Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 38 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:38

وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هَـٰذَا ٱلْوَعْدُ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـٰدِقِينَ

“And they say, "When is this promise, if you should be truthful?"”

Saheeh International

Essence

Straight after "do not hurry Me" comes the hurry itself: a smirking "when, then?" thrown at those who recite the promise.

A reflection

The haste, caught in the act

This exact sentence appears six times in the Quran, and its fuller treatment is at Ya-Sin (36:48) and Al-Mulk (67:25). What is different here is where it stands. The ayah before has just said: man was created of haste; I will show you My signs, so do not hurry Me. Then, immediately, the haste speaks. Wa yaqūlūna matā hādhā al-waʿd: and they say, when is this promise?

It is as if the surah names a trait and then lets you hear it in a human voice. One classical commentator draws the contrast with Al-Mulk. There, he says, the question pressed for a fixed time. Here it is said to hurry the promise along, in mockery and denial.

The word waʿd gave the first hearers a hopeful picture. After rain, a tribe's land was wāʿida: its first green shoots promised good pasture. A cloud promised rain. These are established senses. The promise of the Hour is meant to be felt like that, as a green shoot of what is coming. The mockers heard it only as an empty boast.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.