Tafsir of Al-Hijr 15:2

Recitations: It is recited as rubbama and rubbama (with a shadda on the ba), and as rubbama and rubbama (with the ba vocalized with damma or fatha, and with takhfif/lightening).

Question: Why does rubba enter upon the present tense verb (yawaddu), when they (the grammarians) refuse its entry upon anything other than the past tense?

Answer: Because that which is awaited in the news of Allah Almighty is equivalent to the past tense, which is certain in its realization. It is as if it were said: "It has certainly been wished."

Question: When will their wishing occur?

Answer: At the time of death, or on the Day of Resurrection, when they witness their own state and the state of the Muslims. It is also said: When they see the Muslims exiting the Fire; this is also a form of wishing.

Question: What is the meaning of "diminution" (taqlil) here?

Answer: It follows the custom of the Arabs in their saying: "Perhaps you will regret your action," and "Perhaps a person will regret what he has done." They do not doubt the regret, nor do they intend to diminish it. Rather, they mean: Even if the regret were doubtful or small, it would still be incumbent upon you not to perform this action. For the wise avoid exposing themselves to suspected grief just as they avoid certain grief, and they avoid the small amount of it just as they avoid the large amount.

The meaning in the verse is: If they were to wish for Islam even once, it would be more appropriate for them to hasten toward it. How much more so when they wish for it at every moment!

{If they had been Muslims} This is a narration of their wish. It is phrased in the third person because they are the ones being spoken about, like your saying: "He swore by Allah that he would do it." If it were said: "He swore by Allah that I would do it, if only we were Muslims," it would also be sound and correct.

It is also said: The terrors of that Day will stun them, leaving them bewildered. If a moment of recovery from their intoxication occurs, they will wish; hence the use of the diminutive.

{Leave them} Meaning: Cut off your hope for their return to righteousness. Cease forbidding them from what they are upon, and stop turning them away through reminders and advice. Leave them to {eat and enjoy} their worldly life and the fulfillment of their desires. Let their hope and expectation of long lives and stable conditions occupy them, believing they will encounter nothing but good in the end.

{For they will come to know} The evil of their deeds. The purpose is to signal that they are among the abandoned, that nothing will come from them except what they are currently in, and that there is no restrainer or preacher for them except witnessing what they are warned of—at a time when preaching will not benefit them. There is no path to their admonition before that.

Thus, He commanded His Messenger to leave them to their own affairs and not to busy himself with what has no benefit, and to go to the extreme in leaving them, even to the point of commanding them to do what will only increase their regret in the end. This serves to establish the proof, to exaggerate the warning, and to provide a final excuse. It also serves as a warning that preferring pleasure and luxury leads to long-term hope. This is the habit of most people, not the character of the believers. One of them said: "Wallowing in the world is the character of the doomed."

{And We did not destroy any city but that it had a known decree. No nation can precede its term, nor can they delay it.}