Tafseer of The Prophets · Al-Anbiyaa · 21:38
And they say, "When is this promise, if you should be truthful?"
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.
His words وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَى هَذَا الْوَعْدُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ — "And they say: when will this promise come, if you are truthful?"
Allah, exalted be His praise, says: these people who hasten their Lord to send down signs and punishment say to Muḥammad ﷺ: "When will this promise come?" — that is to say: when will what you promise us of punishment befall us, if you are truthful in what you promise us of all that?
It says إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ — as though they said this to the Prophet ﷺ and to those who believed in him. The word "when" (matā) is in the position of the accusative (naṣb), because its meaning is: "At what time is this promise and on what day?" — and it is in the accusative as an adverbial qualifier of time (ẓarf), because it is a designation of time.
