Tafsir Ibn Kathir on An-Nur 24:14

Surah An-Nur 24:14

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ﱿ ﲀ ﲁ ﲂ ﲃ ﲄ ﲅ ﲆ ﲇ ﲈ ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ

And if it had not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy in this world and the Hereafter, you would have been touched for that [lie] in which you were involved by a great punishment

The Grace of Allah towards the People of the Slander by giving Them the Opportunity to repent Allah says,

ولوﻻ فضل الله عليكم ورحمته في الدنيا واﻻخرة

Had it not been for the grace of Allah and His mercy unto you in this world and in the Hereafter, This is addressed to those who were indulging in discussing the matter of A'ishah, informing them that Allah has accepted their repentance in this world, and forgiven them because of their faith in the Hereafter.

لمسكم في ما أفضتم فيه

would have touched you for that whereof you had spoken, with regard to the slander.

عذاب عظيم

a great torment. This refers to those who had faith in Allah because of their repentance, such as Mistah, Hassan and Hamnah bint Jahsh the sister of Zaynab bint Jahsh. As for the hypocrites who indulged in the slander, such as Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul and his like, they are not the ones who are referred to in this Ayah, because they did not have sufficient faith and righteous deeds to balance or cancel out what they had done. By the same token, the threats that were narrated for a specific deed are bound to be carried out, if there is no repentance or sufficient righteous deeds to balance or outweigh it. Then Allah says:

Tafsir of An-Nur 24:14

Tafsir Ibn Kathir