They used to hasten the punishment of Allah and His signs that compel to knowledge and acknowledgment. They would say, "When is this promise?" So He intended to prohibit them from hastening and to reprimand them. He first criticized man for excessive haste, and that he is created with it. Then He forbade and reprimanded them, as if He said: It is not strange for you to hasten, for you are created with that, and it is your nature and disposition. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said that he meant by man Adam, peace be upon him, and that when the spirit reached his chest and he did not fully complete it, he intended to stand up. It has been narrated that when the spirit entered his eyes, he looked at the fruits of Paradise, and when it entered his belly, he craved food. It is said that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, created him at the end of the day on Friday before sunset, so he hastened in his creation before it set. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said it was Al-Nadr bin Al-Harith. The apparent meaning is the species. It was said that "al-'ajal" means clay, in the language of Hamir. Their poet said:

"And the palm tree grows between water and al-'ajal."

He says: The spring, which is a tree used to make bows, grows in the solid, hard rock, not in anything else; its growth means its vegetation. The palm tree grows in soft, moist earth, so it is between water and al-'ajal, meaning clay. This is the language of Hamir, as it is said. The apparent meaning is that the first part is a metaphor for the difficult miser, and the second for the easy generous. It may be that the first refers to the brave and the second to the coward due to the severity of the first and the softness of the second.

And Allah knows best about its authenticity. If you say: Why did He prohibit them from hastening while He said, "Man was created from haste" and "And man is ever hasty"? Is this not a burden beyond one's capacity? I say: This is just as He created in him desire and commanded him to overcome it, for He granted him the ability to suppress desire and abandon haste. And it has been recited: "He created man."