Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:55
And nothing has prevented the people from believing when guidance came to them and from asking forgiveness of their Lord except that there [must] befall them the [accustomed] precedent of the former peoples or that the punishment should come [directly] before them.
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: وَمَا مَنَعَ النَّاسَ أَنْ يُؤْمِنُوا إِذْ جَاءَهُمُ الْهُدَى وَيَسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّهُمْ إِلا أَنْ تَأْتِيَهُمْ سُنَّةُ الأَوَّلِينَ أَوْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ الْعَذَابُ قُبُلاً (18:55)
Allah, exalted be His mention, says: what has prevented these polytheists (mushrikīn), O Muḥammad, from accepting faith (īmān) in Allah after the guidance (al-hudā) — the proof of Allah — had come to them, and from asking forgiveness for the shirk in which they persist — nothing has prevented them except that our manner of dealing with those who came before them (sunnat al-awwalīn) should also befall them, or that the punishment (al-ʿadhāb) should come upon them face to face (qibalan).
The exegetes differed over the explanation of قُبُلاً . Some said: the meaning is that the punishment strikes them suddenly.
Those who said this are mentioned below:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us. And al-Ḥārith related to me; he said: al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning أَوْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ الْعَذَابُ قُبُلاً . He said: "Suddenly."
Al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
Others said: the meaning is that the punishment strikes them openly and visibly (ʿiyānan).
Those who said this are mentioned below:
Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning أَوْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ الْعَذَابُ قُبُلاً : "Qibalan — the beholding of it face to face; that is the meaning of qibala."
The reciters also differed over the reading. A large group read قُبُلاً with ḍamma on the qāf and the bāʾ — in the meaning of: kinds and forms of punishment; they made "qubul" the plural of "qabīl," just as "qatīl" has the plural "qutul" and "jadīd" has the plural "judud." Another large group read قِبَلاً with kasra on the qāf and fatḥa on the bāʾ — in the meaning of: the punishment strikes them face to face (ʿiyānan), derived from the expression "kallamtuhu qibalan." I have already expounded the matter in the sūra of al-Anʿām, which makes repeating it here unnecessary.
