Censuring the Rebellious and their Refusal to Accept Human Messengers

Allah describes the rebellion and stubbornness of the idolators in defying the truth and arguing against it,

وَلَوْ نَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ كِتَـباً فِى قِرْطَاسٍ فَلَمَسُوهُ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ

The second verse (7) was revealed in the background of a particular event when ` Abdullah ibn Umaiyyah came up with a hostile demand before the Holy Prophet ﷺ by saying: ` I cannot believe in you until such time that I see you climbing all the way to the heavens and bringing a book from there before our eyes, in which it should be written in my name that I should attest to your prophethood.' And, on top of saying all this, he went on to even declare that he would still not be impressed enough by his accomplishing all that for he does not seem to be likely to convert to Islam anyway.

Strange are the ways of fate, for this very gentleman embraced Islam later on, and embraced it with such fervor and class that he became a winning warrior in the cause of Islam and received his Shahadah (martyrdom) in the Battle of Ta'if.