Al-Qasas · Makki · ayah 47 of 88

Al-Qasas 28:47

وَلَوْلَآ أَن تُصِيبَهُم مُّصِيبَةٌۢ بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ فَيَقُولُوا۟ رَبَّنَا لَوْلَآ أَرْسَلْتَ إِلَيْنَا رَسُولًا فَنَتَّبِعَ ءَايَـٰتِكَ وَنَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“And if not that a disaster should strike them for what their hands put forth [of sins] and they would say, "Our Lord, why did You not send us a messenger so we could have followed Your verses and been among the believers?"...[1109]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah sent a messenger before any reckoning, so that no one could say they were never told; the excuse is answered before it is spoken.

A reflection

A sentence left for you to finish

This ayah begins with a sentence that is never finished. 'Were it not that a calamity would strike them, and they would say: Our Lord, why no messenger?' Then it stops. The commentators supply the missing half. Were it not for that plea, the punishment would have come sooner. One concise commentary spells it out: We delayed it, until We had given them fair warning by sending a messenger.

So the silence in the sentence hides a held-back hand. Between what their hands had sent ahead and what it deserved, a space was kept open. That space had a purpose. It was there so that a messenger could arrive and be heard first.

A small island ferry is due to leave at six. At six the ropes are ready, and the captain could go. Instead he holds the boat at the quay and sounds the horn, twice, then twice again. Three late passengers are still running down the pier with their bags. He waits five minutes beyond the timetable until the last one is aboard. Nobody on deck calls the delay weakness.

The Prophet explained the motive behind such waiting. No one loves to accept an excuse more than Allah, he said. For that reason He sent messengers bringing good news and warning (Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim). He is not waiting to catch people out. He removes every honest excuse in advance, and holds the consequence back while He does it.

A struggling believer sometimes asks the hard side of this. What about people who never heard? The ayah gives the principle, not a list of names. Allah's way is to send the warning before the reckoning (17:15). Whoever truly never received it is in the hands of the One who loves excuses more than anyone. And for the rest of us, the delay we are living in is the horn still sounding.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.