Saba · Makki · ayah 29 of 54

Saba 34:29

وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هَـٰذَا ٱلْوَعْدُ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـٰدِقِينَ

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

Saheeh International

Essence

Straight after 'most people do not know', the deniers ask for a date, and the question itself shows what they do not know.

A reflection

The question that proves the line before it

This same question appears in Al-Mulk, and the entry on 67:25 treats it in full. Here in Saba its position gives it a sharper edge.

The ayah before it ended: 'but most people do not know' (34:28). The very next words are the deniers' own: when is this promise? The Quran does not argue the point. It lets them demonstrate it.

A later commentator asks which promise they mean. He suggests it is what this passage has just described: 'Our Lord will gather us, then open between us with truth' (34:26). They have been told of a gathering and a judgement. Their whole response is to ask when.

That is the shape of not knowing. Someone who understood what was being promised would ask a different question: how do I stand when it comes? The question about the date is the question of someone who has not yet grasped the thing being dated.

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.