Tafsir of Al-Ahzab 33:16

"Say: 'Flight will not benefit you if you flee from death or killing,'" meaning: That flight will not benefit you nor repel from you what has been decreed against you in the beginning—whether it be the death of one of you by his own natural end or by the sword and the like—for the predestined is inevitable.

"And then you will not be allowed to enjoy life except for a little while." Meaning: Even if flight were to benefit you by repelling what has been decreed against you, such enjoyment would only be a brief enjoyment or for a short time.

This is an example of positing the impossible; it does not say "Even if it did benefit you," in order to frame the speech as a concession. Alternatively, it means: If flight were to benefit you and you were granted enjoyment through delay—such that this delay was suspended by Allah the Exalted upon flight and bound to it—the enjoyment would still be but a little; for the days of life, however long they may be, are short, and a life consumed by the atoms of minutes is small, even if it seems many.

Some esteemed scholars have said: The meaning is that it will not benefit you with a permanent or complete benefit in repelling the two aforementioned matters—death or killing—in their entirety. This is because every person must experience death, either by natural end or by killing at a specified time; not because the decree preceded it—for the decree is subordinate to the past and is not the cause of it—but because it is the requirement of the sequence of causes and effects according to the customary habit of Divine Wisdom. Thus, there is no evidence in this that flight is of no use at all, which would otherwise conflict with the prohibition against casting oneself into destruction and the command to flee from harm. His saying, "And then you will not be allowed to enjoy life except for a little while," indicates that there is some benefit in flight, in a general sense, if the meaning is: "You will not be allowed to enjoy life, upon the assumption of flight, except for a little bit of enjoyment." There is much to consider in this, so reflect upon it.

Al-Zamakhshari mentioned that one of the Marwanids once passed by a leaning wall and hurried past it, so this verse was recited to him. He replied, "It is that 'little' that we seek." It is as if he leaned towards the second interpretation, or towards that which was mentioned by some regarding the verse.

The response to the conditional "if" (in) is omitted, as the preceding text indicates it. As for "idhan" (then), it is preceded here by a conjunction, so it permits both functioning (as a particle governing the accusative) and non-functioning. However, it is only read here as non-functioning, whereas it was read as functioning in His saying in Surah Al-Isra: "And then they would not remain [with you] except a little." It is also read as la yumatta'un (they will not be allowed to enjoy) with the letter 'ya' for the third person.