His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Do they not travel in the land and see how was the end of those before them? They were stronger than them. And Allah is not to be caused failure by anything in the heavens or in the earth. Indeed, He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful." "And if Allah were to impose blame on the people for what they earned, He would not leave upon it any creature. But He delays them for a specified term. And when their term comes, then indeed, Allah is All-Seer of His servants."

When He threatened them, the Most High, in the previous verse with the way of the former ones, and that He does not change it nor alter it among the disbelievers, He made them stop in this verse to reflect on what they saw of that on the way to Sham and elsewhere, like the dwellings of Thamud and similar places. And "caused failure" means to escape from Him and to evade Him. And "from" in His saying: "from anything" is an additional emphasis. And "All-Knowing, All-Powerful" are two attributes suitable for this context; for with them, nothing is impossible.

Then the Most High clarified the reason for His delaying those of His servants whom He has delayed. That is because the Hereafter is ahead of all, and in it, the recompense of everyone is fulfilled. If the Mighty and Majestic were to recompense for sins in this world, He would have destroyed everyone. And His saying: "any creature" is an exaggeration, and the intended meaning is the children of Adam, for they are the ones who are recompensed. It is said that the intended meaning is the jinn, and it is said that it refers to all that crawls among the animals, as most of them are for the benefit of the son of Adam and because of them. And the pronoun in "its surface" refers back to the earth, which was mentioned earlier. If there had not been a prior mention, it would have been possible in this context to clarify the matter, and it would have been like His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "until it had vanished behind the veil" [Sad: 32] and similar phrases. And "the specified term" is the Day of Resurrection. And the remainder of the verse is a threat, and in it, there is a promise for the believers.

The interpretation of Surah Fatir is complete, and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.