Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:178
And let not those who disbelieve ever think that [because] We extend their time [of enjoyment] it is better for them. We only extend it for them so that they may increase in sin, and for them is a humiliating punishment.
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 statement concerning the interpretation of His word: wa-lā yaḥsabanna alladhīna kafarū annamā numlī lahum khayrun li-anfusihim innamā numlī lahum li-yazdādū ithman wa-lahum ʿadhābun muhīn (178)
(And let not those who disbelieve think that the respite We grant them is better for themselves; We grant them respite only that they may increase in sin, and for them there is a humiliating punishment) (3:178).
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means—exalted is His mention—let not those who disbelieve in Allah and in His Messenger and in what he has brought from Allah think that Our granting them respite is better for themselves.
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By "al-imlāʾ" (the respite) is meant: the prolonging of the lifespan and the deferring of the term of death (ajal). To this also belongs His word—exalted is His praise: wa-hjurnī maliyyan [Surah Maryam: 46], that is: for a long time. From this too is derived the expression: "May you live long and long enjoy a beloved." And "al-malā" itself means time, and "al-malawān" means the night and the day. From this too is the word of Tamīm ibn Muqbil:
"Ah, O dwellings of the tribe at as-Sabuʿān, the two times (the night and the day) have imprinted decay upon them."
By "al-malawān" he means the night and the day.
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The reciters (qurrāʾ) have differed over the recitation of His word: "wa-lā taḥsabanna alladhīna kafarū annamā numlī lahum khayrun li-anfusihim".
A group among them recited it as (wa-lā yaḥsabanna) with the yāʾ, and with a fatḥa on the "alif" of His word "annamā", in accordance with the meaning I have described in its interpretation.
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Others recited it as (wa-lā taḥsabanna) with the tāʾ, and "annamā" likewise with a fatḥa on the "alif" of "annamā", in the meaning: and do not think, O Muḥammad, that Our granting respite to those who disbelieve is better for themselves.
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Now if someone were to ask: what is the reason that the "alif" of His word "annamā" is read with a fatḥa in the recitation of the one who reads with the tāʾ, when you know that, if this is read with the tāʾ, "taḥsabanna" has been made to govern "alladhīna kafarū", and when you make it govern that, it is not permissible for it to fall upon "annamā", because "annamā" can only be governed by a governing factor (ʿāmil) that operates upon two things in the naṣb (accusative)?
Then it is said: as for what is correct in Arabic and the well-known mode of speech from the language of the Arabs, that is the kasr of "inna" when "taḥsabanna" is read with the tāʾ, for when "taḥsabanna" is read with the tāʾ, it has already put "alladhīna kafarū" in the naṣb, and it is not permissible for it to govern while it has already put a noun in the naṣb, namely with "anna". But I suspect that the one who reads this with the tāʾ in "taḥsabanna" and with a fatḥa on the alif of "annamā" intended only the repetition of "taḥsabanna" over "annamā", as though he meant that the meaning of the words is: and do not think, O Muḥammad, concerning those who disbelieve, do not think that Our granting them respite is better for themselves, just as He said—exalted is His praise: fa-hal yanẓurūna illā al-sāʿata an taʾtiyahum baghtatan [Surah Muḥammad: 18], with the interpretation: do they expect anything other than the Hour? Do they expect anything other than that it should come upon them suddenly? And that, although it is a permissible mode in Arabic, is nonetheless such that the mode of speech of the Arabs is as we have described earlier.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct recitation of this, according to us, is the recitation of the one who reads: (wa-lā yaḥsabanna alladhīna kafarū) with the yāʾ in "yaḥsabanna", and with a fatḥa on the alif of "annamā", in the meaning that the thinking is ascribed to those who disbelieve and to no one else; then "yaḥsabanna" governs "annamā" in the naṣb, because "yaḥsabanna" is then not occupied by anything upon which it has already operated, and it requires two nouns in the naṣb.
We have chosen this because of the consensus (ijmāʿ) of the reciters over the fatḥa on the "alif" of the first "annamā", and that indicates that the correct recitation in "yaḥsabanna" is with the yāʾ, for the reason we have described.
As for the alif of the second "innamā": there the kasr applies on the basis of the beginning (ibtidāʾ), according to the consensus of the reciters concerning it.
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The interpretation of His word "innamā numlī lahum li-yazdādū ithman" (We grant them respite only that they may increase in sin): We only defer their terms of death and prolong them, that they may increase in sin. He says: that they may acquire acts of disobedience, so that their sins increase and become numerous. And "wa-lahum ʿadhābun muhīn" (and for them there is a humiliating punishment), He says: and for these who disbelieve in Allah and in His Messenger there is in the Hereafter a humiliating, debasing punishment.
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, the report (athar) has come.
8267 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Khaythama, on the authority of al-Aswad, who said: ʿAbdallāh (Ibn Masʿūd) said: There is no soul, pious or wicked, but that death is better for it. And he recited: "wa-lā yaḥsabanna alladhīna kafarū annamā numlī lahum khayrun li-anfusihim innamā numlī lahum li-yazdādū ithman", and he recited: nuzulan min ʿindi Allāhi wa-mā ʿinda Allāhi khayrun li-l-abrār [Surah Āl ʿImrān: 198] (as a hospitality from Allah, and what is with Allah is better for the pious).
