﴿ وَقَالَت طَّآئِفَةٌۭ مِّنْ أَهْلِ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ ءَامِنُوا۟ بِٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَجْهَ ٱلنَّهَارِ وَٱكْفُرُوٓا۟ ءَاخِرَهُۥ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ ﴾

“And some of the followers of earlier revelation say [to one another]: "Declare your belief in what has been revealed unto those who believe [in Muhammad] at the beginning of the day, and deny the truth of what came later, so that they might go back [on their faith];”

(And a party of the People of the Scripture say: Believe in that which hath been revealed unto those who believe�) [3:72]. Al-Hasan and al-Suddi said: �Twelve rabbis from the Jews of Khaybar and the town of �Uraynah conspired with each other, saying: �Pretend to join the religion of Muhammad at the beginning of the day and declare your disbelief in it at the end of the day. Say: �We have looked in our Scriptures and consulted our scholars and found that Muhammad is not genuine; it is clear to us now that he is lying and that his religion is false�. If you do this, his Companions will doubt their religion. They will say: these are people of the Book and they are more knowledgeable than us. They will then abandon their religion and embrace yours�. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse, thus informing His Prophet Muhammad, Allah bless him and give him peace, and the rest of the believers�. Mujahid, Muqatil and al-Kalbi said: �This was revealed regarding the qiblah when it was changed toward the Ka�bah. The Jews found it hard to accept that they were opposed, and so Ka�b ibn al-Ashraf and his companions said: �Believe in that which was revealed to Muhammad regarding the matter of the Ka�bah, pray toward it at the beginning of the day and then disbelieve in the Ka�bah and return toward your qiblah at the end of the day. They might then say: these are people of the Book and they know better than us. They might then return to our qiblah�. Allah, exalted is He, warned His Prophet from the scheming of these people and informed him about what they were conspiring; He revealed (And a party of the People of the Scripture say�)�.