The Incident
After Mecca’s conquest, the Prophet sent al-Walid ibn Uqba to the tribe of Banu Mustaliq (Banu al-Mustaliq) to collect zakat. The tribe, according to most reports in the sirah and tafsir traditions, actually came out to meet him; but al-Walid — for reasons disputed among historians (misunderstanding, residual enmity, or self-interest) — turned back and reported to the Prophet that the tribe had refused to pay and had come out armed against him.
The Prophet was preparing to send a military expedition. Then verse 49:6 was revealed: “O you who have believed, if a wrongdoer (fasiq) comes to you with information, verify it, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become regretful for what you have done.”
The expedition was cancelled. An emissary was sent to verify; the tribe was found to be fully compliant. Al-Walid’s report was false.
The Word “Fasiq”
The verse’s application of the word fasiq (wrongdoer, sinner) to a named Companion was legally and theologically significant. The majority of tafsir commentators accept that the verse was revealed about al-Walid specifically and that calling him fasiq in the Quran was a permanent characterization.
His Later Career
Under Uthman’s caliphate, al-Walid was appointed governor of Kufa. His governorship ended in scandal: he was convicted of drinking wine and publicly flogged — the first governor in Islamic history to be publicly punished by the caliph for a hadd crime. This reinforced the Quran’s characterization.
The Legal Principle
The verse produced the permanent Quranic rule: news from a person known for wrongdoing must be verified before action is taken on it. This principle underpins classical Islamic jurisprudence on hadith criticism (ilm al-rijal): the moral character of a transmitter affects the reception of their reports.
See also: Quran Compilation History, Seerah Abu Sufyan Ibn Harb, Seerah Abdallah Ibn Masud, Ilm Al Firaq, Seerah Sad Ibn Muadh