(Hast thou not seen those unto whom it was said: Withhold your hands…) [4:77].
Said al-Kalbi: “This verse was revealed about some Companions of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, among whom were ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf, al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad, Qudamah ibn Maz‘un and Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas. These Companions were subjected to a lot of harm from the idolaters. They used to say: ‘O Messenger of Allah, allow us to fight them’, but his answer was always: ‘Keep your hands off them, for I have not been commanded to fight them’. When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, migrated to Medina and Allah, exalted is He, commanded them to fight the idolaters, some of them disliked fighting and found it very hard. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse”.
Sa‘id ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-‘Adl informed us> Abu ‘Amr Hamdan> al-Hasan ibn Sufyan> Muhammad ibn ‘Ali> his father> al-Husayn ibn Waqid> ‘Amr ibn Dinar> ‘Ikrimah> Ibn ‘Abbas who related that ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf and some of his fellow companions went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, in Mecca and said: “O Prophet of Allah, we were mighty when we were idolaters but now that we are believers we became humiliated”. He said to them: “I am commanded to pardon, do not fight these people”. But when Allah, exalted is He, made him move to Medina, He commanded him to fight, they withheld their hands, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Hast thou not seen those unto whom it was said: Withhold your hands…).
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou