Etymology
Asbāb is the plural of the Arabic word sabab, which means 'cause', 'reason', or 'occasion', and nuzūl is the verbal noun of the verb root nzl, literally meaning to descend or to send down, and thus (metaphorically) to reveal, referring Allah sending down a revelation to his prophets. Though technical terms within Qur'anic exegesis often have their origins in the book itself (e.g. naskh), sabab/asbāb does not: Despite the appearance of the stem sbb over 11 times in the Qur'an (Q.2:166, Q.18:84, Q.18:85 Q.18:89, Q.22:15, Q.38:10, Q.40:36-37), "none of the verses seem the least bit connected to a statement concerning revelatory procedure".
The observations above do not amount to etymology as it is understood in linguistics, as there is no attempt to connect these words with other Semitic languages or possible external sources.
Within exegetical literature, the use of sabab in a technical sense did not occur until relatively late: the material which would be later culled by asbāb writers used alternate phraseologies to introduce their reports, such as al-āya nazalat fī hādhā- "the verse was revealed about such and such"- or fa-anzala allāh- "so God revealed/sent down". The first sustained use of the word occurs in the tafsir of al-Tabarī and the naskh work of al-Nahhās (d. 950), where it can be seen solidifying into its later technical sense.
One can find the translation of Asbab al-Nuzul (i.e. the contexts and occasions of the Revelation of the Qur'an)into English by 'Alī ibn Ahmad al-Wāhidī (d. 468/1075), who is considered to be the earliest scholar of the branch of the Qur'anic sciences known as Asbāb al-Nuzūl. Al-Wāhidī and subsequent scholars aimed to collect and systemize information concerning all the known reasons and contexts for the Revelation of particular Qur'anic verses.
Read more about this topic: Asbab Al-nuzul
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