Sometime towards the end of the sixth/twelfth century, a prominent preacher in Baghdād wrote the following:

There are two views about this verse: (1) Ibn Mas'ūd, al-Hasan and the majority say that it is Meccan. (2) It was reported on the authority of Qatāda to be Medinan. There are three different opinions about the occasion of its revelation: (1) a group of Quraysh, including al-Walīd b. al-Mughīra, al-'ds b. Wā'il and al-Aswad b. 'Abd Yaghūth; met al-'Abbās b. 'Abd al-Muttalib and said, 'O Abū l-Fadl, if your nephew had submitted himself to one of our gods then we would have believed in what he says and we would certainly have believed in his god.' So al-'Abbās came and told him [Muhammad] this and at that this sūra was revealed. Abū Sālih reported this on the authority of Ibn 'Abbās. (2) 'Utba b. Rabī'a and Umayya b. Khalaf met God's messenger and said, 'O Muhammad, we shall not leave you alone until you follow our religion and we follow yours. If ours is the right course, you will take your share of it. If yours is the right course, we will take our share of it.' At that this sūra was revealed. 'Ubayd b. 'Umayr said so. (3) The Quraysh said to the Prophet, 'If it please you we will follow your religion for a year and you will return to our religion for a year.' At that this sūra was revealed. Wahb reported it. Muqātil reported others to have said: 'This sūra was revealed about Abū Jahl and about “the mockers”. Of those about whom it was revealed, not one ever became a believer.'