Tafseer of Noah · Nooh · 71:4
Allah will forgive you of your sins and delay you for a specified term. Indeed, the time [set by] Allah, when it comes, will not be delayed, if you only knew.' "
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 statement: "He will forgive you something of your sins" (71:4) — he says: He will forgive you your sins.
If someone were to say: does "min" ("something of") not indicate a part? Then it is answered: it has two meanings and two positions. As for the one position: that is the position where nothing other than "min" is correct. And when that is the case, it indicates only a part. That is like your statement: "I bought something of your slaves" (ishtaraytu min mamālīkika); in this place nothing other than "min" is correct, and its meaning is: the part — I bought a part of your slaves, and of your slaves a slave. And the other position: that is the one where "ʿan" fits in its place. When "ʿan" fits in its place, it indicates the whole. That is like your statement: "My belly hurts from food that I have eaten" (wajiʿa baṭnī min ṭaʿāmin ṭaʿimtuhu), for the meaning of it is: food that I have eaten made my belly hurt, and in place of "min" fits "ʿan". That is because you put "ʿan" in its place, and then the statement is correct, so that you say: "My belly hurts from (ʿan) food that I have eaten", and "from (min) food that I have eaten". So too is His statement: "He will forgive you something of your sins" — it means only: and He will remit them for you and forgive you them. And it is possible that its meaning is: He will forgive you of your sins that for which He has threatened you with the punishment. As for that for which He has not threatened you with the punishment: His forgiveness toward you concerning it has already preceded.
His statement: "And He will grant you respite until an appointed term" (71:4) — he says: and He will defer your life-terms, so that He does not destroy you through the punishment, neither through drowning nor through anything else, "until an appointed term" — he says: until a time of which it is written that He will let you continue until then, if you obey Him and worship Him, in the Mother of the Book (umm al-kitāb).
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah: "Until an appointed term" — he said: what is recorded as a term; and when the term of Allah comes, it is not deferred.
His statement: "Verily, the term of Allah, when it comes, is not deferred, if only you knew" (71:4). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: verily, the term of Allah which He has recorded for His creatures in the Mother of the Book — when it arrives with Him, it is not deferred beyond its appointed time, such that respite would be granted thereafter. "If only you knew" — he says: if you knew that this is so, you would return to obedience to your Lord.
