32وَإِذ قالُوا اللَّهُمَّ إِن كانَ هٰذا هُوَ الحَقَّ مِن عِندِكَ فَأَمطِر عَلَينا حِجارَةً مِنَ السَّماءِ أَوِ ائتِنا بِعَذابٍ أَليمٍMuhammad AsadAnd, lo, they would say, "O God! If this be indeed the truth from Thee, then rain down upon us stones from the skies, or inflict [some other] grievous suffering on us!"1This sarcastic appeal of the unbelievers - referred to several times in the Qur'an - is meant to stress their conviction that the Qur'an is not a divine revelation. According to Anas ibn Malik, these words were first uttered by Abu Jahl, the Prophet's chief opponent at Mecca - who was killed in the battle of Badr (Bukhari).