Al-Mulk: (28) Say, "Have you considered..."

Say, "Have you considered" meaning: "Show me," as is well-known, and its verification has already passed.

"If Allah should destroy me and those with me" meaning: of the believers.

"Or grant us mercy" meaning: by granting victory over you.

"Then who can protect the disbelievers from a painful punishment?" meaning: who can protect you from the punishment of the Fire?

The manifest noun (al-kafirin) has been used in place of the implicit pronoun (al-mukhatab) to indicate that the cause of ruin is established for them, so how can they find protection? The apparent interpretation is that the response to the condition and its coordinate is a single thing. The summary of the meaning is: There is no protector for you from the punishment of the Fire because of your disbelief, which necessitates it. If we are turned toward the mercy of Allah the Exalted—either by destruction as you wish, for in that is the attainment of the bliss of the Hereafter, or by victory over you and proofs for Islam as we hope, for in that is the achievement of both desired goals—this implies an exhortation for them to seek salvation through faith, and that what they are engaged in is a preoccupation that distracts them from wishing for the destruction of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and those with him among the believers. This is the most sound of three interpretations mentioned by al-Zamakhshari.

The second interpretation is that the meaning is: If Allah the Exalted destroys us by death while we are your guides and the ones taking hold of your waistbands, then who will protect you from the Fire? And if He grants us mercy by victory over you and killing you—the opposite of what you wish—then who will protect you? For the one killed at our hands is destroyed in this world and the Hereafter. According to this, the response is multiple due to the multiplicity of its causes. The first interpretation is considered superior because it includes an intellectual belittlement of their views for seeking what is actually the happiness of their enemies, then urging them toward what is more appropriate, which is salvation from what they are in of the cause of ruin. There is a point here regarding the first, in that they did not wish for the destruction of the one who would protect them from the punishment through his guidance, and the context is more supportive of the first.

The third interpretation is that the meaning is: If Allah the Exalted destroys us in the Hereafter for our sins while we are believers, then who will protect the disbelievers, who are more deserving of destruction due to their disbelief? And if He grants us mercy through faith, then who will protect the one who has no faith? According to this, the response is also multiple, and the destruction in this interpretation is understood metaphorically rather than literally, as in the preceding one. The purpose is to be certain that there is no protector for them, and that if their condition—when it alternates between destruction due to sin and mercy through faith—leaves them as believers, then what will be the state of the one who has no faith? This interpretation contains remoteness.