Al-An'am (The Cattle): (158) Do they await except...

Know that when the Almighty established that He sent down the Book only to remove excuses and eliminate justifications, and then clarified that they would absolutely not believe, and described states that necessitate despair regarding their entry into faith, He said: {Do they await except that the angels come to them} (Al-An'am: 158).

A verse similar to this is His saying in Sūrat Al-Baqarah: {Do they await except that Allah should come to them in canopies of clouds} (Al-Baqarah: 210).

The meaning of {ينظرون} (yanẓurūn) is "they await." The interrogative hal (do they await) carries the meaning of negation. The interpretation of the verse is: They will not believe you except when one of these three matters comes to them: the coming of the angels, or the coming of the Lord, or the coming of overwhelming signs from the Lord.

If it is argued: Does His saying {Or your Lord comes} imply the possibility of God arriving (coming) and being absent?

We reply that the answer is in several aspects:

1. First: This is a narration of what they (the disbelievers) say. They were disbelievers, and the belief of a disbeliever is not a proof (or basis for theological deduction).
2. Second: This is a metaphor (majāz). Similar to this is His saying: {So Allah brought down their structure} (An-Nahl: 26), and His saying: {Indeed, those who abuse Allah} (Al-Ahzab: 57).
3. Third: There are conclusive proofs establishing that arrival (majī’) and absence (ghaybah) are impossible for God Almighty. The closest proof is the saying of the Friend of God (Abraham), peace be upon him, in refuting the star-worshippers: {I do not love those that set} (Al-An'am: 76).

If it is argued: His saying {Or your Lord comes} cannot be interpreted as establishing an effect of His power, because under that interpretation, this would become identical to His saying {Do they await except that they come to them} [referring to the angels/signs]. Therefore, it must be interpreted as referring to the coming of the Lord Himself.

We reply: The relied-upon answer is that this is a narration of the doctrine of the disbelievers, so it is not a proof. It is also said that {Your Lord comes} means the punishment comes, or that some of the signs of your Lord come, meaning the overwhelming miracles.

Then the Almighty said: {The Day some signs of your Lord will come, no soul will benefit from its faith if it had not believed before} (Al-An'am: 158).

They have agreed that what is meant by these signs are the signs of the Hour (Qiyāmah). Al-Barā’ ibn ‘Āzib reported that they were discussing the Hour when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) looked over them and said: "What are you discussing?" They said: "We are discussing the Hour." He said: "Indeed, it will not occur until you see ten signs before it: the Smoke, the Beast of the Earth, a sinking in the East, a sinking in the West, a sinking in the Arabian Peninsula, the Dajjāl, the rising of the sun from the West, Gog and Magog, the descent of Jesus, and a fire emerging from Aden."

His saying {if it had not believed before} is a description of the word {soul} (nafs). His saying {or earned in its faith some good} is a second description, connected to the first description. The meaning is that when the signs of the Hour appear, the time for religious obligation (taklīf) ends. At that point, faith will not benefit a soul that had not believed before, nor the good it had earned in its faith before.

Then the Almighty said: {Say: You await; indeed, we too are awaiting} (Al-An'am: 158). This is a warning and a threat.

{Indeed, those who divided their religion and became sects, you are not of them in anything. Their affair is only with Allah. Then He will inform them of what they used to do.} (Al-An'am: 159)