Tafsir of Ar-Ra'd 13:32

"And messengers before you were mocked; so I granted respite to those who disbelieved"—meaning: I left them for a period of time—from which the word al-malawan (the two cycles of time: day and night) is derived—in security and ease, just as an animal is granted pasture. This is a consolation for the Beloved (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) regarding the mockery, denial, disregard for his signs, and demands for other signs that he encountered from the polytheists. All of this, in meaning, constitutes mockery and a threat against them.

The meaning is: This is not something exclusive to you; rather, it is a consistent matter that was done to many noble messengers who came before you. Thus, I granted respite to those who perpetrated that against them. The shift in the relative clause to the attribute of "disbelief" is not because those who were granted respite were different from the mockers, but to indicate that such mockery is indeed disbelief, as has been said. It is stated in al-Irshad that it is to intend the combination of the two attributes; meaning: I granted respite to those who disbelieved—by their disbelief along with their mockery—not by their mockery alone.

"Then I seized them, so how was My punishment?"—meaning: My punishment of them. The intent is to evoke wonder at what befell them, and in this lies an indication of its intensity and horror that is not hidden.

"Is then He who is a maintainer over every soul"—meaning: a watcher and a guardian over every soul, whatever it may be—"for what it has earned"—meaning: what it has done of good or evil. Nothing of that is hidden from Him, and nothing of the requital that each deserves escapes Him. He is Allah, exalted is His status. As for what al-Qurtubi narrated from al-Dahhak, that the intent behind this is the angels appointed over the children of Adam, it is something that is hardly worth considering here.

"And" [the word] man (who/he) is the subject (mubtada'), and the predicate is omitted, meaning: "Is he like one who is not so?" Its parallel is the saying of the Exalted: "Is one whose breast Allah has expanded to Islam, so he is upon a light from his Lord..." Its omission is rendered appropriate by the contrast, although it has often appeared explicitly, as in the saying of the Exalted...