The day the punishment comes to them is a second object for the warning, and it is the Day of Resurrection. The meaning of 'Delay us to a near term' is to return us to the world and grant us respite for a time and limit of time that is near, so that we may make up for what we neglected in responding to Your call and following Your messengers. Or the day refers to the day of their destruction by the immediate punishment, or the day of their death while being tormented by the severity of the agonies and meeting the angels without glad tidings. They will ask on that day for their Lord to delay them to a near term, as in His saying: 'If only You would delay me to a near term so that I might give charity.' Did you not swear to intend the saying? There are two aspects to it: that they say this out of arrogance and frivolity, and due to the habit of ignorance and folly that has overtaken them, and that they say it with the tongue of their state, as they built strongly and hoped for a long time. And what is your response to the oath? It has come in the form of address due to His saying: 'You swore,' and if the words of the swearers had been narrated, it would have been said: 'What is there for us from removal?' The meaning is that you swore that you would remain in the world and would not cease to exist through death and annihilation. It was said that you will not transition to another abode, meaning their disbelief in resurrection, as in His saying: 'And they swore by Allah with their utmost oaths that Allah will not resurrect the dead.' It is said: 'He resided in the house and settled in it.' From it is His saying: 'And you settled in the dwellings of those who wronged themselves,' because residence is from stillness, which is to remain. The original form is to be transitive with 'in,' as in your saying: 'He settled in the house and sang in it and remained in it.' However, when it was transferred to a specific stillness, it was modified, so it was said: 'He settled the house,' as it was said: 'He took it as a dwelling and made it his home.' It may be that it is: 'They settled,' from stillness, meaning: they remained in it and were at peace, with pure souls, following the path of those before them in oppression and corruption, not informing it of what the former ones faced from the days of Allah and how the outcome of their oppression was, so that they might take heed and be warned. And it has been made clear to you through news and observation how We destroyed them and took vengeance on them. And it was read: 'And We clarify to you,' with the pronoun 'We.' 'And We struck for you the examples,' meaning the characteristics of what they did and what was done to them. They are in their strangeness like the examples struck for every oppressor. And they plotted their plot, meaning their great plot in which they exhausted their effort. And with Allah is their plot, which may either be attributed to the doer like the first, meaning: 'And their plot is written with Allah,' so He will recompense them for it with a plot that is greater than it, or it may be attributed to the object, meaning: 'And with Allah is their plot that He plots against them,' which is their punishment that they deserve, coming to them from where they do not perceive and do not expect. And if their plot were such that the mountains would move from it, even if their plot is great and extreme in severity, the removal of the mountains is struck as a metaphor for its enormity and severity.

And if their plotting were equal to the removal of mountains. Prepared for that. And 'Inna' is a negation and the 'lam' is an affirmation for it, like His saying, 'And Allah would never cause your faith to be lost.' The meaning is: And it is impossible for the mountains to be removed by their plotting, given that the mountains are a metaphor for the signs of Allah and His laws, because they are like the steadfast mountains in stability and strength. The reading of Ibn Mas'ud supports this: 'And their plotting was not.' And it was read: 'Let the mountains be removed,' with the 'lam' of beginning, meaning: And if their plotting were so intense that the mountains would be removed from their places. And it was read by 'Ali and 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with them: 'And if their plotting nearly contradicts His promise to His messengers,' meaning His saying: 'Indeed, We will support Our messengers.' Allah has decreed, 'I will certainly prevail, I and My messengers.' If you say: Why was it not said: 'His promise to His messengers is contradicted?' And why was the second object placed before the first? [Mahran said: 'If you say, why was the second object placed before the first... etc.? Ahmad said: 'There is a point in what he said, because when the verb is restricted by an object, its generality is interrupted. So the mention of the promise in the verse is not evidence of the verb's generality regarding the promised, so that the mention of the messengers would be separate from the first mention. There is no difference in the meaning mentioned between the mention of the messengers being placed before or after, and the placing of the second object only indicates the care in the speaker's intent. This matter is the same in the verse, because it was revealed in the context of warning and threatening the wrongdoers with what Allah has promised them through the tongues of the messengers. The important thing in the threat is the mention of the warning. As for it being through the tongues of the messengers, that is a matter that does not depend on the fear, and it must be, so that if the threat from Allah were assumed to be on the tongue of someone other than a messenger, the fear of Him would be sufficient. And Allah knows best.'] I said: The promise was placed first to indicate that He does not break the promise at all, like His saying: 'Indeed, Allah does not break the covenant.' Then He said: 'His messengers' to indicate that if He does not break His promise to anyone - and it is not His nature to break promises - how could He break it to His messengers who are His chosen ones and elite? And it was read: 'His promise to His messengers,' with the genitive of 'messengers' and the accusative of 'promise.' This reading is as weak as one who reads: 'He killed their children, their partners.' Mighty, prevailing, He does not engage in deceit; He is the Avenger for His allies from His enemies.