| Jonah: (48-49) And they say, "When is this..."

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Know that this is the fifth doubt raised by the deniers of prophethood. Whenever the Prophet (peace be upon him) warned them of the descent of punishment, and time passed without that punishment appearing, they would say, "When is this promised time, if you are truthful?" They used its non-appearance as an argument to discredit his prophethood.

There are several issues concerning this verse:

The Almighty's saying, {And they say, "When is this promise?"} serves as evidence that what preceded, namely His saying, {He judged between them with justice} (Jonah: 147), refers to a judgment executed in this world. This is because it is not permissible for them to ask, "When is this promise?" when they are present in the Hereafter, as the state in the Hereafter is one of certainty and recognition of the occurrence of every promise and threat.

This statement implies that they only said this either to deny the Messenger (peace be upon him) regarding his warning of punishment for the enemies and victory for the allies, or out of incredulity regarding the truthfulness of that report.

This saying also indicates that every nation said something similar to its messenger, evidenced by the phrase {if you were truthful} (implied by the context, referring to their demand), which is in the plural form, consistent with His saying, {they do} and {And for every nation is a messenger} (Jonah: 47).

Furthermore, the Almighty commanded him to answer this doubt with a response that cuts off the matter: {Say, "I do not possess for myself harm or benefit except what Allah wills."}

The meaning is that the sending down of punishment upon the enemies and the manifestation of victory for the allies is not within the power of anyone except Allah, the Glorified. Allah did not specify a fixed time for this promise and threat, such that one could say, "Since the promised thing did not occur at that time, it proves falsehood." Rather, the specification of the time was entrusted to Allah, the Glorified—either according to His Will and Divinity for those who do not attribute causality to His actions and rulings based on the consideration of public interests, or according to the predetermined public interest for those who attribute causality to His actions and rulings based on the consideration of public interests. Then, when the time that Allah has set for that event arrives, it must occur, and it is impossible for it to precede or be delayed.

The Mu'tazila used the verse {Say, "I do not possess for myself harm or benefit except what Allah wills"} as evidence, arguing that this exception indicates that the servant does not possess the ability to do anything unless Allah wills it.

(The text seems to have a repetition or jump here, leading into the next point which is related to the timing of death/term.)

The verse {When their term comes, they will not delay an hour nor advance it} indicates that no one dies except upon the expiration of their term, and similarly, the one who is killed is not killed except in this manner. This is a lengthy issue which we have mentioned in this book in many places.

The Almighty said here: {When their term comes, they will not delay an hour nor advance it.}

The phrase {When their term comes} is the condition (the shart), and {they will not delay an hour nor advance it} is the consequence (the jawab), and the fa' (ف) is the particle of consequence. Therefore, it must be attached to the consequence, as in this verse.

This verse indicates that the consequence occurs simultaneously with the condition, not delayed after it, and that the particle fa' does not indicate delay; rather, it indicates that it is the consequence.

If this is established, we say: If a man says to a foreign woman, "If I marry you, you are divorced," Imam Shafi'i (may Allah be pleased with him) said: This conditional divorce is invalid. Imam Abu Hanifa (may Allah be pleased with him) said: It is valid.

The evidence against its validity is that this verse indicated that the consequence only occurs at the time the condition occurs. If this conditional divorce were valid, the divorce would have to occur simultaneously with the marriage contract. Since it is established that the consequence must occur with the condition, this would necessitate combining two opposites (marriage and divorce occurring at the same instant). Since this necessary outcome is false, this conditional divorce must be invalid.

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{Say, "Have you considered: if His punishment comes to you by night or by day, what part of it would the criminals hasten?"}

{Then, when it occurs, will you believe in it? Now? After you used to hasten it?}

{Then it will be said to those who wronged, "Taste the eternal punishment. Are you recompensed except for what you used to earn?"}