The Believers (Al-Mu'minun): (76-80) And We have certainly seized them with punishment...

There are several interpretations regarding His statement: {And We have certainly seized them with punishment}:

1. The Famine of Mecca: It is said that after Thumamah ibn Uthal al-Hanafi embraced Islam and returned to Yamamah, the Meccans were afflicted by years of drought until they ate hides and carrion. Abu Sufyan came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said: "Do you not claim you were sent as a mercy to the worlds, yet you killed the fathers by the sword and the children by hunger? Supplicate to God to lift this drought from us." He supplicated, and it was lifted. Then God revealed this verse, meaning: We seized them with famine, yet they did not obey.
2. The Battle of Badr: It refers to what afflicted them on the Day of Badr in terms of killing and captivity. This means that despite its severity, it did not lead them to faith (according to Al-Asamm).
3. Punishment of Past Nations: It refers to the punishment that afflicted previous nations. {So they did not humble themselves} means the idolaters of Arabia did not humble themselves to their Lord (according to Al-Hasan).
4. The Severity of Worldly vs. Afterlife Punishment: The severity of the worldly punishment is closer to the accountable person than the severity of the Hereafter. If the severity of this world does not affect them, then the severity of the Hereafter will not either. This indicates that {If they were sent back, they would return to that which they were forbidden} (Al-An'am: 28).

Regarding His statement: {Until, when We have opened against them a gate of severe punishment}, there are two views:

1. Until We open the gate of famine against them, which is more severe than killing and captivity.
2. When they are punished by the Fire of Hell, at that point they will despair (Yablasun), similar to His saying: {And on the Day the Hour is established, the criminals will despair * No respite will be granted them, nor will they be allowed to plead}. Iblās (despair) is the hopelessness of all good, or it is said to be stillness accompanied by regret.

Here are some questions:

First Question: What is the root form (wazn) of istakānū (to humble themselves)? Answer: It is istaf'ala from sukūn (stillness), meaning they transitioned from one state to another, just as istahāla (to transform) means transitioning from one condition to another. It is also possible that it is ifta'ala from sukūn, where the vowel of the middle letter is lengthened.

Second Question: Why is istakānū in the past tense while yataḍarra'ūn (they supplicate) is in the future tense? Answer: Because the meaning is: We tested them, and immediately following the trial, We did not find any humbling from them. It is not the habit of these people to supplicate until the gate of severe punishment is opened against them. (A variant reading of fataḥnā is also mentioned).

Third Question: Conjunction (linking clauses) is only appropriate with similarity. What is the connection between His statement: {And it is He who brought forth for you hearing and sight} and what preceded it? Answer: It is as if the Exalted God, after explaining the extreme aversion of those disbelievers to listening to proofs, seeing admonitions, and contemplating realities, said to the believers: "It is He who gave you these things and enabled you to use them." This serves as a reminder that whoever does not use these faculties for what they were created for is like one who does not possess them, just as He said: {So neither their hearing nor their sight nor their intellect availed them at all, since they were denying the signs of God}. This indicates that the deprivation of those disbelievers and the endowment of these believers is solely from God.

Know that the Exalted God clarified His great favors in several ways:

1. By granting hearing, sight, and intellect. These three are singled out because inference (Istidlāl) depends upon them. Then He mentioned that the grateful among them are few. Abu Muslim said: This does not mean they have no gratitude, but it is like saying about an ungrateful denier of blessings, "So-and-so's gratitude is little."
2. His statement: {And it is He who dispersed you on the earth}. Some commentators interpret this as "created you." Abu Muslim said: It could also mean He spread you out upon the earth as offspring, some from others, until you became numerous, like His saying: {Offspring of those whom We carried with Noah} (Al-Isra: 3). Thus, we say: He is the One who made you multiply on the earth, and He will gather you on the Day of Resurrection to a place where no ruler other than Him presides. Making their gathering to that place is a gathering to Him, not in the sense of physical location.
3. His statement: {And it is He who gives life and causes death}. The blessing of life, although one of the greatest blessings, is transient, and the purpose of God granting it is the transition to the abode of reward.
4. His statement: {And His is the alternation of the night and the day}. The benefit of this is well-known. Then, the Exalted God warned against neglecting reflection on these matters by saying: {Will you not then use reason?} This is a warning and a threat. (A variant reading of a-fala ya'qilūn is also mentioned).

7 < { Nay, they say, "Like what the former people said. * They say, 'When we die and become dust and bones, are we indeed to be resurrected? * Indeed, this has been promised to us and to our fathers before. This is nothing but tales of the former people.'" } > 7

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