﴿ ۞ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَسْتَحْىِۦٓ أَن يَضْرِبَ مَثَلًۭا مَّا بَعُوضَةًۭ فَمَا فَوْقَهَا ۚ فَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ فَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ ٱلْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فَيَقُولُونَ مَاذَآ أَرَادَ ٱللَّهُ بِهَٰذَا مَثَلًۭا ۘ يُضِلُّ بِهِۦ كَثِيرًۭا وَيَهْدِى بِهِۦ كَثِيرًۭا ۚ وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِۦٓ إِلَّا ٱلْفَٰسِقِينَ ﴾

“Behold, God does not disdain to propound a parable of a gnat, or of something [even] less than that. Now, as for those who have attained to faith, they know that it is the truth from their Sustainer - whereas those who are bent on denying the truth say, "What could God mean by this parable?" In this way does He cause many a one to go astray, just as He guides many a one aright: but none does He cause thereby to go astray save the iniquitous,”

(Lo! Allah disdaineth not to coin the similitude) [2:26]. Ibn 'Abbas said, according to the report of Abu Salih: �When Allah, exalted is He, coined these two similitudes for the hypocrites - he means Allah's sayings (Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindleth fire�) [2:17] and (Or like a rainstorm from the sky�.) [2:19] - they said: 'Allah is too exalted and sublime to coin similitudes'. Hence, Allah revealed this verse�. Al-Hasan and Qatadah said: �When Allah mentioned gnats and spiders in His Book and used them to coin similitudes for the disbelievers, the Jews laughed and said: 'this does not resemble Allah's speech', and so Allah revealed this verse�. Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Ishaq al-Hafiz in his epistle informed us> Sulayman ibn Ayyub al-Tabarani> Bakr ibn Sahl> 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Sa'id> Musa ibn 'Abd al-Rahman> Ibn Jurayj> 'Ata'> Ibn 'Abbas who said regarding Allah's saying (Lo! Allah disdaineth not to coin the similitude): �This is because Allah mentioned the deities of the idolaters, saying: (And if the fly took something from them, they could not rescue it from him) [22:73]. He also mentioned the scheme of the deities and compared it to cobweb. Upon hearing this, they said: 'See how Allah mentions gnats and spiders in the Qur'an revealed to Muhammad; what is the use of this?' And so Allah revealed this�.