Tafsir of Yunus 10:21

"God empowered drought upon the people of Mecca for seven years until they were nearly destroyed, then He had mercy on them with rain. Yet, when He had mercy on them, they began to disparage the signs of God, show hostility toward the Messenger of God (peace be upon him), and plot against him."

• "And when" (wa-idhā): The first idhā is conditional, and the latter is its response, signifying suddenness (mufāja'ah).
• "Plotting" (makr): Concealing and folding away a scheme, derived from the phrase "a woman with a makrūrah figure," meaning one whose frame is compact and folded.
• "Touched them" (massathum): It mingled with them until they felt its evil impact upon them.

If you ask: "How is it valid to say 'He is swifter in plotting' (asra‘u makran) when He has already described them as being quick to plot?"

I reply: Yes, the word signifying suddenness (idhā al-mufāja'ah) points to this. It is as if He said: "When We showed them mercy after hardship, they suddenly initiated their plotting and rushed toward it before they had even washed their heads from the touch of that hardship, not waiting even long enough to swallow their grief."

The meaning is that God Almighty has ordained your punishment and will inflict it upon you before you can even devise how to extinguish the light of Islam.

• "Indeed, Our messengers are recording": This is an announcement that what you think is hidden and folded away is not hidden from God, and He will take vengeance upon you.
• Variants: It is recited as tamkurūn (you plot) and yamkurūn (they plot).
• Interpretation: Some say their "plotting" refers to their saying, "We were given rain by the rising of such-and-such star."

From Abu Hurayrah: "God may greet a people with a blessing in the morning and find them in the evening having disbelieved in it, saying: 'We were rained upon by the star of such-and-such.'"

"It is He who enables you to travel on land and sea, until when you are in ships and they sail with them by a favorable wind and they rejoice therein, there comes a storm and the waves come upon them from every place and they assume that they are surrounded, they supplicate to God, sincere to Him in religion: 'If You should save us from this, we will surely be among the thankful.' But when He saves them, at once they commit injustice upon the earth without right. O mankind, your injustice is only against yourselves, [merely] the enjoyment of worldly life; then to Us is your return, and We will inform you of what you used to do."