Tafsir of Yunus 10:51

The intent behind His saying, Glorified is He: "Then, when it has befallen, do you believe in it?" is to increase the sense of reproach and disparagement. The meaning is: Once the punishment has fallen and truthfully reached you, do you then believe in it, turning your mockery and denial into belief and submission? The particle thumma (then) is introduced to indicate an increase in astonishment. This second instance is more remote than the first and carries greater weight in denial.

It has been permitted that this is the answer to the conditional clause, while the first interrogative acts as an interpolation. The meaning would be: "Inform me, if His punishment comes to you, will you believe in it after its occurrence, at a time when faith will not avail you?" The origin of the discourse, as has been said, is: "If His punishment comes to you by night or by day, and it occurs and is realized, will you believe?" Then, the particle of delay (thumma) was brought in place of waw (and) to indicate astonishment; then, the conditional particle (idha) was added to signify its independence in astonishment and that the former is a preamble to it. Idha was emphasized with ma to substantiate the meaning of occurrence and realization, and to further disparage them for not believing until a time when it would be of no avail to them at all. This perspective is among those permitted by al-Zamakhshari, but it has been critiqued as being extremely far-fetched, because thumma is a conjunction, and it is unheard of to begin an answer with it; furthermore, a sentence beginning with an interrogative cannot function as an answer without the fa. This has been answered in the way previously mentioned.

As for the response that thumma was treated as fa—just as fa is originally for conjunction and sequence and links the consequent—this contradicts the consensus of the grammarians, and its analogy to fa is not clear. Because of this instability, it was said: al-Zamakhshari’s intent is that it points to the answer, and the estimated meaning is: "If His punishment comes to you, you will believe in it after it occurs," while what is in the Noble Text is a conjunction to it for the sake of emphasis, like: "Nay, you will come to know. Then, nay, you will come to know." This was critiqued by stating that its artificiality is obvious, for a corroborative conjunction with thumma while omitting the corroborated phrase is something that should not be committed. If it were said: "The intent is that 'you believe' is the answer, and 'then, when it has befallen' is interpolated," then interpolation with waw and fa is known, but no one has held that it occurs with thumma. In sum, the criticism and validation of this position have been numerous; the perfumer cannot repair what time has corrupted. It has been recited as thamma with a fatha on the tha, meaning "there."

Regarding His saying, Glorified is He: "Now?"—this is based on the assumption of a hidden verb (i.e., "It was said to them"), which is the most apparent and strongest meaning. That is, it was said to them at the time of their belief after the punishment had occurred: "Do you believe in it now?" Thus, al-aan (now) is in the accusative position as an adverb for a suppressed "you believe." It is forbidden for it to be an adverb for the mentioned verb because the interrogative has precedence in the sentence. It has been recited without the interrogative hamza, and the appearance to me regarding this is that it also relates to a suppressed verb because the discourse is about the interrogation. Some have permitted its relation to the mentioned verb, but that is not sound. From Nafi’, it is reported that it was recited al-aan by deleting the hamza after the lam and placing its vowel upon the lam.

Regarding His saying, Glorified is He: "While you were once seeking to hasten it"—this is in the position of a state (hal) from the actor of the suppressed "do you believe." The discourse, as is said, is directed from His side, Glorified is He, and is not part of the dialogue of the prompted speech, but rather intended to confirm the content of what preceded regarding the denial of delay and the reproach for it. The benefit of the hal is to intensify the reproach and scolding and to increase the feelings of remorse and regret. The scholar al-Tibi said: "Now you believe in it" demands that it be followed by: "while you were denying it," not "seeking to hasten it." However, it was placed there because the intent is the aforementioned haste, which He, Glorified is He, recounted from them by His saying: "When will this promise be?" That was a form of mockery, denial, and astonishment on their part. In this shift, there is a bringing to mind of that heinous utterance, making it more eloquent than "denying it." The prepositional phrase was placed before the verb to observe the rhyming endings of the verses.