The Fourth Event: This is well-known almost to the degree of ‘consensus in meaning,’ and is given by most Qur’anic commentators as the immediate reason for the revelation of the verse,

Indeed We have put yokes round their necks right up their chins, so that their heads are forced up [and they cannot see]. And We have put a bar in front of them and a bar behind them, and further, We have covered them up, so that they cannot see.(282)

It is also related by the most learned commentators and scholars of Hadith. They relate that Abu Jahl took an oath, saying: “I shall strike Muhammad with a stone if I see him prostrating.” He took a large stone and went to find God’s Messenger. He lifted his hands to cast the stone, when he saw him prostrating, and they remained raised. God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) stood up on completing the prayers, and Abu Jahl’s hand was released. He could move it either because the Prophet permitted, or because there was no longer any need for it to remain thus.(283)

In another similar incident, a man from the same tribe as Abu Jahl, al-Walid b. Mughira according to one narration, went to the Ka‘ba with a large stone in his hand, to strike the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) while he was prostrating, but the man’s eyes were sealed and he could not see the Messenger entering, nor was he able to see the people

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(282) Qur’an, 36:8-9.
(283) Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa: i, 351; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa: iii, 241; al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id viii, 227; Muslim, No: 2797; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya iii, 42-3.