(We narrate unto thee (Muhammad) the best of narratives…) [12:3].
‘Abd al-Qahir ibn Tahir informed us> Abu ‘Amr ibn Matar> Ja‘far ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Mustafad> Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Hanzali> ‘Amr ibn Muhammad al-Qurashi> Khallad ibn Muslim al-Saffar> ‘Amr ibn Qays al-Mula’i> ‘Amr ibn Murrah> Mus‘ab ibn Sa‘d> his father Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas who said with regard to the words of Allah, exalted is He (We narrate unto thee (Muhammad) the best of narratives…): “The Qur’an was revealed to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and he recited it to them for quite a while. They said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, if only you could narrate to us’, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Alif. Lam. Ra. These are verses of the Scripture that maketh plain) [12:1] up to His saying (We narrate unto thee (Muhammad) the best of narratives…). He recited this to them for a while, then they said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, if only you could relate to us statements’, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Allah hath (now) revealed the fairest of statements, a Scripture consistent…) [39:23]. He said: You are commanded all that through the Qur’an”. This was narrated by al-Hakim Abu ‘Abd Allah in his Sahih from Abu Zakariyya al-‘Anbari> Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Salam> Ishaq ibn Ibrahim.
Said ‘Awn ibn ‘Abd Allah: “The Companions of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, got bored and so they said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, relate to us some of the statements, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Allah hath (now) revealed the fairest of statements…)’. Then, they got bored again and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, we want something in between statements and the [usual] Qur’an (i.e. narratives)’, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (We narrate unto thee (Muhammad) the best of narratives…). They wanted statements and He guided them to the fairest of statements and they wanted narratives and He guided them to the best of narratives”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou