ﱁ ﱂ ﱃ ﱄ ﱅ ﱆ ﱇ ﱈ ﱉ ﱊ ﱋ ﱌ ﱍ ﱎ ﱏ ﱐ ﱑ ﱒ
And if only the people of the cities had believed and feared Allah, We would have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth; but they denied [the messengers], so We seized them for what they were earning."
Tafsir
Verse range: 7:96
"And if only the people of the towns..."
The lām (definite article) in "the towns" (al-qurā) refers to the towns indicated by His saying: "And We did not send a prophet to any town" (Al-Aʿrāf: 94). It is as if He said: "And if only the people of those towns who denied and were destroyed had believed" instead of disbelieving, "and feared" sins instead of committing them, "We would have opened for them blessings from the heaven and the earth"—meaning, We would have brought them goodness from every direction. It is also said that He meant rain and vegetation. "But they denied, so We seized them" for their evil earnings. It is also permissible that the lām in "the towns" refers to the genus (all towns).
If you ask: What is the meaning of "opening the blessings upon them"? I say: It means making them easy for them, just as the matter of locked doors is made easy by opening them. From this is their saying: "I opened for the reciter" (fataḥtu ʿalā al-qāriʾ), meaning when the recitation became difficult for him, I made it easy for him by prompting him.
"Do the people of the towns then feel secure that Our punishment will not come to them at night while they are asleep? Or do the people of the towns feel secure that Our punishment will not come to them in the morning while they are playing?"
