Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 10 Yunus, Ayat 11-12

وَلَوۡ يُعَجِّلُ اللّٰهُ لِلنَّاسِ الشَّرَّ اسۡتِعۡجَالَهُمۡ بِالۡخَيۡرِ لَـقُضِىَ اِلَيۡهِمۡ اَجَلُهُمۡ​ؕ فَنَذَرُ الَّذِيۡنَ لَا يَرۡجُوۡنَ لِقَآءَنَا فِىۡ طُغۡيَانِهِمۡ يَعۡمَهُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:11﴾ وَاِذَا مَسَّ الۡاِنۡسَانَ الضُّرُّ دَعَانَا لِجَنۡۢبِهٖۤ اَوۡ قَاعِدًا اَوۡ قَآئِمًا ۚ فَلَمَّا كَشَفۡنَا عَنۡهُ ضُرَّهٗ مَرَّ كَاَنۡ لَّمۡ يَدۡعُنَاۤ اِلٰى ضُرٍّ مَّسَّهٗ​ؕ كَذٰلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِلۡمُسۡرِفِيۡنَ مَا كَانُوۡا يَعۡمَلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:12﴾

(10:11) Were Allah15 to hasten to bring upon men (the consequence of) evil in the way men hasten in seeking the wealth of this world, their term would have long since expired. (But that is not Our way.) So We leave alone those who do not expect to meet Us that they may blindly stumble in their transgression. (10:12) And (such is man that) when an affliction befalls him, he cries out to Us, reclining and sitting and standing. But no sooner than We have removed his affliction, he passes on as though he had never cried out to Us to remove his affliction. Thus it is that the misdeeds of the transgressors are made fair-seeming to them.

Notes

15. After the introductory (verses 1-10), the Quran takes up admonition which is the main subject of the Surah. In order to understand this fully we should keep two things in view as its background:

First, a little before its revelation, the continuous horrible famine, which had afflicted Makkah for seven long years and humbled the haughty Quraish, had come to an end. Naturally this had given a blow to idol worship and acted as a stimulus to God worship. For, in their utter helplessness, they had to supplicate to Allah and cry meekly for help. So much so that Abu Sufyan had to approach the Prophet (peace be upon him) with this request: Please pray to Allah to remove this affliction from us. But when the famine was over, and rains began to fall, and prosperity returned, they began to show rebellion and do evil deeds and started their hostile activities against the believers. Thus the hearts that had turned to Allah, again became neglectful of Him. See (Surah An-Nahal, Ayat 113), (Surah Al-Mominoon, Ayats 75-77), (Surah Ad-Dukhan, Ayats 10- 16).

Secondly, the Quran answered the question with which they confronted the Prophet (peace be upon him) whenever he warned them of the consequences of rejecting the truth. They would say” You are always threatening us with Allah’s wrath; why doesn’t the divine torment visit us and why is it being delayed?

Keeping the above background in view, (Ayats 11-12 )may be expanded like this: Allah does not hasten in punishing and seizing the people for their sins as He hastens in showing kindness and compassion to them. Do they, then, want Him to hasten His torment for their rebellions, as He hastened to remove famine in answer to their supplications? As this is not Our Way, We give them time to mend their evil ways in spite of their transgressions and rebellions. We send warning after warning and give them respite until their term comes to an end. Then the law of requital comes into force. In contrast to this, their way is the way of mean and narrow minded people. When affliction comes, they remember Allah, begin to cry and call Him meekly, but forget it all during the time of prosperity. Such bad ways as these are leading them to divine torment.