His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And they hasten you for the punishment, and if it were not for a term already appointed, the punishment would have come to them suddenly while they perceive not." "They hasten you for the punishment, and indeed Hell is encompassing the disbelievers." "On the Day the punishment will cover them from above them and from beneath their feet, and He will say, 'Taste what you used to do.'"

His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And they hasten you for the punishment" refers to the disbelievers of Quraysh in their saying: 'So bring us what you promise us,' and other instances of their hastening - in a manner of denial and disbelief - of the punishment of Allah, which Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, warned them about. Then He informed that it will come to them suddenly, meaning: unexpectedly, and this is the punishment of this world, which appeared on the Day of Badr in the seven years. Then He mentioned that its delay is according to the appointed term that was predetermined. The interpreters have said, according to al-Dhahhak, that the appointed term in this verse refers to the appointed times.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "This is weak and is refuted by reflection, for the appointed times must be an appointed term, but this is not its place."

Then He warned them, blessed and exalted is He, after the punishment of the Hereafter in His saying: "They hasten you for the punishment, and indeed Hell..." He repeated their action and its ugliness, and informed that Hell is encompassing them. Al-Ikramah said - as narrated by al-Tabari - that Hell here refers to the sea.

(p-656) Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "This is weak."

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "On the Day the punishment will cover them" is a circumstance that relates to His saying: "encompassing." And "it will cover them" means: it will cover them from every direction. Nafi, Asim, Hamzah, and al-Kisai read: "And He will say," meaning: and Allah will say. Ibn Kathir, Abu Amr, and Ibn Amer read: "And We will say" with the 'noon,' which could either be the 'noon' of greatness or the 'noon' of the group, the group of angels. Ibn Mas'ud read: "And it will be said" with a 'ya' and an 'alif,' which is the reading of Ibn Abi Abla.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Taste" is a rebuke, and it resembles the touch of punishment with tasting, and from it is His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Taste, indeed you are the mighty, the honorable" [Al-Dukhan: 49], and from it is the saying of Abu Sufyan: "Taste the consequence," and similar instances are many. And His saying: "what you used to do," means: by what is in your deeds from your earning.