Al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage)

47. “And they demand of you to hasten on the punishment! While Allah never fails His promise; and verily a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you number.”

The Divine prophets (as) used to warn the disbelievers of the Divine punishment but they frequently asked the prophets what time would the punishment of Allah come? This verse answered them not to hasten, since the promise of Allah is certain. So, we should not consider the respite of Allah as a sign for His negligence or that we are delivered.

In this verse, the Qur’an makes manifest another feature of the ignorance and unawareness of the blind-hearted pagans.

It says:

“And they demand of you to hasten on the punishment! While Allah never fails His promise;…”

The person who fears that he might lose the opportunity he has, and his potentialities end, usually hastens. But as for Allah, Who has been All-Powerful over everything since pre-eternity and will be the same until post-eternity, He is always able to fulfil His promises and haste is meaningless for Him.

There is no difference for Him whether time is one hour, one day or one year.

Its reason is mentioned in the verse, where it says:

“…and verily a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you number.”

Thus, whether sincerely or mockingly the disbelievers reiterate this statement, saying: ‘Why the Divine punishment does not come down over them’, they should know that the Divine chastisement waits for them and, soon or late, it will come to them.

So, if there is a respite given to them, it is for that they may awake and improve themselves. Yet, they must be careful that after the punishment has been sent down, the doors to repentance and return are totally closed and there is no way to escape.

Concerning the Qur’anic sentence which says:

“…verily a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you number”,

besides the abovementioned commentary which indicates one day and a thousand days are indifferent for the Power of Allah, there have been mentioned some other commentaries, too.

Among them is that you may need one thousand years for doing something, but Allah’s performance is in one day (or less than that). Hence, His punishment does not need so many premises.

Another matter is that: in comparison, one day in the Hereafter is like one thousand years in the world, (and its reward and retribution will also be increased with the same scale).

An Islamic narration indicates:

“Verily the poor will enter Paradise before the rich in half a day (which is) five hundred years.”1