Tafseer of The Romans · Ar-Room · 30:36
And when We let the people taste mercy, they rejoice therein, but if evil afflicts them for what their hands have put forth, immediately they despair.
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, the Exalted: وَإِذَا أَذَقْنَا النَّاسَ رَحْمَةً فَرِحُوا بِهَا وَإِنْ تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّئَةٌ بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ إِذَا هُمْ يَقْنَطُونَ (36) ("And when We let people taste a mercy, they rejoice in it; but when an evil befalls them because of what their hands have brought forth, behold, they despair.")
Allah, whose praise is exalted, says: when people meet from Us abundance, prosperity, and well-being in their bodies and their possessions, they rejoice in it; but when there befalls them from Us an adversity of drought, crop failure, and trial in their possessions and their bodies, بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أيْدِيهمْ ("because of what their hands have brought forth") — he says: because of the evil deeds they have committed between themselves and Allah, and the acts of disobedience they have perpetrated, إذَا هُمْ يَقْنطُونَ ("behold, they despair") — he says: behold, they despair of relief. And al-qunūṭ is despair; to this belongs the saying of Ḥumayd al-Arqaṭ:
"They had not found al-Ḥajjāj despairing" (1)
And His word: إذَا هُمْ يَقْنَطُونَ ("behold, they despair") is the answer to the condition; for "idhā" takes the place of the verb by referring to it, as though it were said: and when an evil befalls them because of what their hands have brought forth, you find them despairing, or: you encounter them, or: you see them, or: you behold them. And one of the grammarians of Baṣra used to say: when "idhā" is an answer, then that is because it is connected with the preceding expression in the manner of the fāʾ.
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The footnotes:
(1) The verse is by Ḥumayd al-Arqaṭ (Majāz al-Qurʾān of Abū ʿUbayda, folio 188 - b). He said: إذا هو يقنطون ("behold, they despair"): that is to say: they lose hope. Ḥumayd al-Arqaṭ said: "They had already ..." — the verse. And in (al-Lisān: q-n-ṭ): al-qunūṭ is despair. And in al-Tahdhīb: despair of the good. And it has been said: the most intense despair of something. And qaniṭa yaqniṭu and yaqnaṭu, and qanaṭa qanṭan like taʿiba, so that he is qaniṭ; and it has been recited: ولا تكن من القانطين ("and be not among the despairing"). As for qanaṭa yaqniṭu (with fatḥa in both) and qaniṭa yaqnaṭu (with kasra in both), that is only on the basis of combining the two linguistic forms, as al-Akhfash has stated it.
