An-Naml · Makki · ayah 71 of 93

An-Naml 27:71

وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هَـٰذَا ٱلْوَعْدُ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـٰدِقِينَ

“And they say, "When is [the fulfillment of] this promise, if you should be truthful?"”

Saheeh International

Essence

The scornful "when?" returns, aimed here at every believer, straight after the Prophet ﷺ is told not to let their scheming tighten his chest.

A reflection

The taunt arrives just after the comfort

This question appears almost word for word at 36:48, and its fuller treatment lives there. What is distinct here is where it stands.

One ayah earlier, the Prophet ﷺ was told: do not grieve over them, and do not be in distress from what they plot (27:70). Then, at once, the reader hears what that pressure sounded like in the street. "When is this promise, if you are truthful?" The comfort comes first, and the taunt second. It is as if the Prophet is steadied before the blow lands.

Notice also who is addressed. "If you are truthful" is plural in Arabic: kuntum. The mockers are not only needling one man. They are aiming at everyone who believed him. The ridicule falls on the whole small community in Mecca.

So a believer today who meets this same scorn is not standing alone in it. The question was put to the first believers as a group. The answer that follows (27:72) was given to all of them together.

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.