Tafseer of Jonas · Yunus · 10:51
Then is it that when it has [actually] occurred you will believe in it? Now? And you were [once] for it impatient
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: أَثُمَّ إِذَا مَا وَقَعَ آمَنْتُمْ بِهِ آلآنَ وَقَدْ كُنْتُمْ بِهِ تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ (51)
Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah the Exalted speaks here: Is it then there — when the punishment (ʿadhāb) of Allah descends upon you, O polytheists (mushrikīn) — that "you believe in it"? That is to say: you acknowledge the truth of it at a moment when that acknowledgement is of no benefit to you whatsoever. And it is said to you: "Do you believe in it now, while previously you were hastening it on?" — while you were denying its descent? "Then taste now what you used to deny."
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The meaning of the word (أَثُمَّ) in this place is: "Is it then there?" (ahunālika). It is not here the word "thumma" which has the meaning of conjunction (ʿaṭf). (13)
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Footnotes:
(13) See the explanation of "thumma" in what precedes, volume 2, p. 535, where there is also the explanation of "thumma" with an open tāʾ (thamma) with the meaning of "there" (hunālika). Ṭabarī said in his tafsīr, volume 8, p. 351: "It has been said that 'thumma' here has the meaning of 'thamma' — with an open tāʾ — so that it is an adverb of place, with the meaning: ahunālika; this is the position of Ṭabarī." Abū Ḥayyān said in his tafsīr, volume 5, p. 167: "Ṭabarī, concerning the word 'athuma' — with a closed thāʾ — held that its meaning is: ahunālika, and that this 'thumma' here is not the word which has the meaning of conjunction. What Ṭabarī has claimed is a claim without proof."
