Al-Wahidi reports from al-Bara, in a narration also in al-Bukhari and Muslim, that the Prophet prayed toward Jerusalem for sixteen or seventeen months after reaching Medina but wished to face the Kaaba. Verse 2:144 then came down, the 'foolish' (the Jews) objected, and 2:142 answered them. Through al-Kalbi, Ibn Abbas says that 2:143's promise that Allah would not waste their faith answered clans asking about Muslims who died praying toward the first qiblah, such as As'ad ibn Zurarah and al-Bara ibn Ma'rur; al-Fahl notes that a related story of the Prophet speaking to Gabriel comes from Muqatil. Verse 2:146 came down about believers among the People of the Book, Abdullah ibn Salam and his companions, who knew the Prophet as they knew their own sons.

Al-Wahidi reports, without naming a source, that verse 2:154 came down about the Muslims killed at the Battle of Badr. There were fourteen of them: eight from the Ansar and six from the Muhajirun. People used to say of a man killed in Allah's cause that he had died and lost the comforts and pleasures of this world, so Allah revealed this verse. Al-Fahl identifies the report as the words of Muqatil ibn Sulayman in his commentary. He notes that al-Thalabi gives it without a chain of transmitters.

Verse 2:158 came down about the Ansar, al-Wahidi reports from Aishah. Before Islam they made pilgrimage for the idol Manat and felt it wrong to walk between Safa and Marwah. They asked the Prophet about it, and the verse was revealed. Al-Bukhari and Muslim record this. Anas says Muslims avoided the walk because it was a pre-Islamic rite. Ibn Abbas says Muslims disliked it because the idols Isaf and Na'ilah had stood on the two hills. Al-Suddi says that idols stood between the hills and Muslims called the walk idolatry. Verse 2:159 came down about the scholars of the People of the Book. They hid the verse on stoning and the truth about the Prophet.

Al-Wahidi reports only on verse 2:164. Ata says that when verse 2:163, "Your God is One God," was revealed to the Prophet in Medina, the Quraysh unbelievers in Mecca asked how one God could be enough for all people. Allah then revealed verse 2:164. Al-Fahl grades this report mursal. In a second report, Abu al-Duha says the idolaters were amazed at the claim of one God and said that if the Prophet was truthful, he should bring them a sign. Verse 2:164 was revealed in response.

Verse 2:168 came down, al-Kalbi says on the authority of Abu Salih, about the tribes of Thaqif, Khuza'ah and Amir ibn Sa'sa'ah. They had forbidden themselves certain crops and livestock. They had also forbidden the animals they called bahirah, sa'ibah, wasilah and ham. Al-Fahl gives no grade for this report.

For verse 2:174, al-Kalbi reports from Ibn Abbas that it came down about the leaders and scholars of the Jews. They received gifts and extra payments from their common people, and they hoped the promised prophet would come from among them. When he was sent from another people, they feared losing their income and their leadership. So they changed the description of Muhammad in their scripture and showed it to their followers. They said it did not match the prophet in Mecca, so the people did not follow him.

Al-Wahidi reports from Qatadah that a man asked the Prophet about righteousness, and Allah revealed this verse in reply. Qatadah adds that before the obligatory duties were laid down, a man who bore witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger, prayed facing any direction, and died in that state was assured of Paradise. Then this verse came down. Al-Fahl gives no grade for the chain. He notes that al-Wahidi reports something similar elsewhere from Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, al-Dahhak and Ata.

Al-Wahidi reports from al-Sha'bi that two Arab tribes were fighting each other, and one tribe held a position of superiority over the other. The stronger tribe said, "For a slave of ours we will kill a free man of yours, and for a woman of ours, a man." This verse then came down. The footnotes give no verdict on this report's chain.

Al-Wahidi reports from Ibn Abbas and al-Bara that, at first, fasting Muslims could not eat or touch their wives after the night prayer or after sleeping. Umar was intimate with his wife after she had slept, and Qays ibn Sirmah fainted while fasting after he fell asleep before eating. Verse 2:187 then brought the relief. Al-Bara's report is in al-Bukhari. A similar report from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad has a weak chain, says al-Fahl. Sahl ibn Sa'd says "from the dawn" came down later, because some men tied white and black threads to their legs. Muqatil says verse 2:188 concerned Imru al-Qays ibn Abis and Abdan ibn Ashwa, who brought a land dispute to the Prophet.

On 2:189, al-Kalbi says Muadh ibn Jabal and Thalabah ibn Anamah asked the Prophet why the moon waxes and wanes. Al-Fahl calls that chain extremely weak. Al-Bara says that Ansar returning from pilgrimage entered their houses from the back, and a man was shamed for using his door. That report is in Bukhari and Muslim. Al-Kalbi links 2:190 to Muslims who feared fighting Quraysh in the sacred month at the make-up umrah after Hudaybiyah. Qatadah links 2:194 to that same umrah. Abu Ayyub says 2:195 came down about the Ansar, who wanted to stay home and restore their property instead of going on campaign. Others say it was about Ansar who stopped giving charity, or about sinners who despaired of forgiveness.

The part of verse 2:196 about someone who is ill or has a scalp ailment came down about Ka'b ibn Ujrah. Al-Wahidi reports from Ka'b that he was in the state of pilgrim purity at al-Hudaybiyah, with lice falling from his head onto his face. The Prophet told him to shave and pay compensation: fast three days, feed six poor people half a sa' each, or sacrifice a sheep. Ka'b said the verse came down about him in particular but applies to everyone. The editor's footnotes trace this report to al-Bukhari and Muslim. A report from Ibn Abbas adds that Ka'b shaved and sacrificed a cow, and the verse came down at that spot.

Verse 2:197 came down, al-Wahidi reports from Ibn Abbas, about Yemenis who went on pilgrimage without provisions, calling themselves reliant on Allah, then begged in Mecca. Ata says some pilgrims made others carry their needs. Ibn Abbas says verse 2:198 came down because people avoided trading during Hajj. Ibn Umar says it answered a man who asked the Prophet whether hired carriers' Hajj counted. Aishah and Jubayr ibn Mutim say verse 2:199 told Quraysh, who stopped at Muzdalifah instead of Arafat, to leave from Arafat with everyone else. Mujahid says verse 2:200 was about pilgrims boasting of their forefathers. Al-Hasan links it to Bedouins swearing by their fathers, a report al-Fahl found only in al-Wahidi.

Al-Suddi says verses 2:204-205 came down about al-Akhnas ibn Shariq. He came to the Prophet in Medina claiming to accept Islam, then burned a Muslim crop and killed their donkeys. Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib says verse 2:207 concerns Suhayb, who was pursued by Quraysh while emigrating and bought his freedom by giving up his wealth in Mecca. The exegetes tell a similar story, but al-Hasan links the verse to a Muslim who fought until he was killed, and others link it to commanding right and forbidding wrong. Ibn Abbas says verse 2:208 came down about Abd Allah ibn Salam and his companions, who kept the Sabbath and wished to follow the Torah after accepting Islam.

Qatadah and al-Suddi say verse 2:214 came down during the Battle of the Trench, when the Muslims suffered hardship, heat, cold, fear and want. Ata says instead that it came to comfort the emigrants after they reached Medina without wealth and faced Jewish hostility and hidden hypocrisy; al-Fahl found no chain for this. On verse 2:215, al-Wahidi reports from Ibn Abbas that it came down about Amr ibn al-Jamuh, a wealthy old man who asked the Prophet what to give and to whom. A second report from Ibn Abbas says it concerned a man the Prophet told to spend his dinars, one by one, on himself, his family, his servant, his parents, his relatives and Allah's cause. Ibn Hajar, quoted by al-Fahl, calls that chain flimsy and its wording objectionable.

Verses 2:217-218 came down about a raiding party the Prophet sent under Abd Allah ibn Jahsh to Nakhlah. Al-Wahidi reports from Urwa ibn al-Zubayr and al-Zuhri that the party attacked a Quraysh caravan and killed Amr ibn al-Hadrami at the end of a sacred month (Rajab, in al-Zuhri's account). They also captured two men. The Prophet said he had not ordered fighting in the sacred month, and Quraysh accused him of violating it, so 2:217 was revealed. Al-Zuhri adds that 2:218 came down when the party asked whether they would get the fighters' reward. The exegetes' fuller account says the men were unsure whether it was still Jumada or already Rajab.

Al-Wahidi says, without naming an authority, that verse 2:219 came down about Umar ibn al-Khattab, Muadh ibn Jabal and some of the Ansar. They asked the Prophet for a ruling on wine and gambling, because both take away the mind and drain wealth. Verse 2:220 came down after the verses warning against consuming orphans' property. Guardians then kept the orphans' food and drink apart from their own, and leftovers spoiled. This became a hardship, so they told the Prophet. The verse then allowed them to mix their food and drink with the orphans'. Al-Wahidi gives this from Ibn Abbas and also from Said ibn Jubayr directly. Al-Fahl marks the Said ibn Jubayr report mursal and notes that Ibn Hajar preferred it to the version from Ibn Abbas.

Al-Wahidi gives three reports. Muqatil ibn Hayyan says the verse came down about Abu Marthad al-Ghanawi, a Muslim who asked the Prophet's permission to marry Anaq, a beautiful idolater from Quraysh. A report from Ibn Abbas says it came down after Abdullah ibn Rawahah freed and married his believing Black slave-woman. Some Muslims mocked him, since they wanted to marry idolaters for their noble lineage. Al-Fahl notes that other sources give this report as al-Suddi's own words, not Ibn Abbas's. Al-Kalbi, from Ibn Abbas, tells of Marthad ibn Abi Marthad asking to marry Anaq, his former lover in Mecca. Al-Fahl quotes Ibn Hajar that this occasion is not sound, since other collections link the Marthad story to a different verse.

Verse 2:222 came down when the Prophet was asked about menstruating women. Al-Wahidi reports from Anas that the Jews would put such women out of the house and would not eat or drink with them. The commentators say the pagan Arabs did the same, and that Abu al-Dahdah asked the question. For verse 2:223, Jabir reports that the Jews claimed a child would be born cross-eyed if a man approached his wife from behind. Al-Fahl grades one of Jabir's chains sound. Ibn Abbas says Qurayshi emigrants married Ansar women, who objected to their ways. In another report from Ibn Abbas, Umar told the Prophet he was 'ruined' over this matter. Said ibn al-Musayyib says verse 2:223 came down about withdrawal (azl).

Al-Kalbi says verse 2:224 came down about Abd Allah ibn Rawahah. He had sworn by Allah never to visit or speak to his brother-in-law Bashir ibn al-Numan, or to make peace between Bashir and his wife, and he said he must keep his oath. The editor notes a report from Ibn Jurayj that it concerned Abu Bakr and Mistah instead. For verse 2:226, Ibn Abbas says that before Islam men swore off their wives for a year or more, so Allah set four months; al-Fahl grades this chain weak. Said ibn al-Musayyib adds that a man would swear never to approach a wife he did not want, so that no one else could marry her, leaving her neither free nor truly married.

Verse 2:229 came down about divorce. Al-Wahidi reports from Urwah that a man could divorce his wife and take her back before her waiting period ended, even a thousand times. One man divorced his wife, waited until her waiting period had nearly ended, took her back, and divorced her again. He swore she would never live with him and never be free to remarry. Al-Fahl grades this report weak because it is mursal, since Urwah did not witness the revelation. A second version has Aishah telling the Prophet about a woman who asked her about divorce, and then the verse came down. Al-Fahl grades that chain weak too and says the mursal version is the correct one.

Verse 2:232 came down about Maqil ibn Yasar. Al-Wahidi reports from al-Hasan, who heard it from Maqil, that Maqil had married his sister to a man who divorced her. When her waiting period ended, the man asked to marry her again, and she wanted to go back to him. Maqil swore he would never let her return, so this verse was revealed, and Maqil then married her to him again; al-Bukhari records this report. Al-Suddi gives a different account: the verse came down about Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari, who refused to let his divorced cousin remarry her former husband.

Verse 2:240 came down about a man from Taif who came to Medina with his parents, his wife, and his sons and daughters, and then died there. al-Wahidi reports this from Muqatil ibn Hayyan. The case was brought to the Prophet, who gave shares to the parents and the children but gave the wife nothing. Instead, he told them to support her from her husband's estate for one year. al-Fahl gives no grade for this report.