Tafseer of The Poets · Ash-Shu'araa · 26:205
Then have you considered if We gave them enjoyment for years
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.
How long have you two driven her away so that she could not drink ... so leave her alone, together with the buckets, so that she may cool herself.
The statement concerning the explanation of His words, the Exalted: فَيَأْتِيَهُمْ بَغْتَةً وَهُمْ لا يَشْعُرُونَ (٢٠٢) فَيَقُولُوا هَلْ نَحْنُ مُنْظَرُونَ (٢٠٣) أَفَبِعَذَابِنَا يَسْتَعْجِلُونَ (٢٠٤) (So that it will overtake them suddenly while they do not perceive (202), and they will then say: Are we granted respite? (203). Do they then seek to hasten Our punishment? (204)).
Allah, exalted be His remembrance, says: Thus will the painful punishment overtake these deniers of this Qurʾān suddenly, that is, unexpectedly, (وَهُمْ لا يَشْعُرُونَ) (while they do not perceive). He says: they have no foreknowledge of its coming, until it overtakes them suddenly. (فيقولوا) (and they will then say), when it overtakes them suddenly, (هَلْ نَحْنُ مُنْظَرُونَ) (Are we granted respite?): that is, will the punishment be deferred for us, and will our term be prolonged, so that we may return and turn in repentance to Allah from our shirk (associating partners with Allah) and from our disbelief (kufr) toward Allah, so that we may return to faith (īmān) in Him and turn in repentance to obedience to Him?
And His words: (أَفَبِعَذَابِنَا يَسْتَعْجِلُونَ) (Do they then seek to hasten Our punishment?). Allah, exalted be His remembrance, says: Do these polytheists (mushrikīn) then seek to hasten Our punishment with their words: We will not believe you until (تُسْقِطَ السَّمَاءَ كَمَا زَعَمْتَ عَلَيْنَا كِسَفًا) (you cause the heaven, as you have claimed, to fall down upon us in fragments).
The statement concerning the explanation of His words, the Exalted: أَفَرَأَيْتَ إِنْ مَتَّعْنَاهُمْ سِنِينَ (٢٠٥) ثُمَّ جَاءَهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يُوعَدُونَ (٢٠٦) (Have you then considered: if We let them enjoy themselves for years (205), and then there comes to them what they were promised (206)).
