Hud (Hud)

8. “And if We postpone the penalty from them until a limited period of time, they will surely say: ‘What prevents it?’ Beware! On the day it will come to them it shall not be turned aside from them, and they will be encompassed by that which they used to mock.”

The word /’ummah/ refers to a group which has a common aim and also means women. The aim in this verse is a definite period of time as we also recite in Surah Yusuf /waŏkur ba‘da ’ummatin/ which means that the freed prisoner was reminded of Yusuf after the passage of a length of time.

At any rate, Allah, the Gracious, remarks that if He postponed the tormenting punishment of these unbelievers for a certain period of time, delaying its certain arrival, they would sarcastically cry: If these punishments are certain to come, what has kept them back?

In response, the Qur’an implies that they should beware of the punishment whose late arrival they mocked about, for when He decides to let it come, no one would be able to reverse it, and when He wishes it to happen, no one can stop it, and they would be eradicated by the very punishment which they so mockingly despised.

The verse says:

“And if We postpone the penalty from them until a limited period of time, they will surely say: ‘What prevents it?’ Beware! On the day it will come to them it shall not be turned aside from them, and they will be encompassed by that which they used to mock.”

Explanations

1- The postponement of the Divine punishment has a number of implications, namely, providing a chance for the sinners to repent, the birth of faithful children from deviant parents, etc. Moreover, the existence of honest people and their prayers also delay the occurrence of Divine punishment.

2- Imam Baqir (as) and Imam Sadiq (as) have been quoted in a tradition as saying that the holy phrase: /’ummatin ma‘dudah/ in the verse refers to a limited group of like minded people, alludes to the friends of Hadrat Mahdi (as), whose number equals no more than 313, equivalent in size to the circle of Companions at Badr, who assembled like autumn clouds over the sea.

3- Other interpretations have been made for the phrase /’ummatin ma‘dudah/ with documentations from the Qur’anic verses and the sayings of the Ahl-ul-Bayt (as) which also exist in Sunni interpretations and we will not deal with them here for the sake of brevity.