His saying, the Exalted: "To a limited term."

10711 - Abu Sa‘id al-Ashajj told us, Abu Nu‘aym told us, from Sufyan (h), and Ahmad ibn Sinan told us, ‘Abd al-Rahman told us, from Sufyan, from ‘Asim, from Abu Razin, from Ibn ‘Abbas regarding "And if We delay from them the punishment to a limited term," he said: to a numbered (fixed) time.

10712 - Hajjaj ibn Hamzah told us, Shababah told us, Warqa' told us, from Ibn Abi Najih, from Mujahid regarding His saying: "a limited term," he said: until a time.

10713 - My father told us, Hisham ibn Khalid told us, Shu‘ayb ibn Ishaq told us, Sa‘id ibn Abi ‘Arubah told us, from Qatadah: "And if We delay from them the punishment to a limited term," he means by that: the people of hypocrisy, and he says: If We delay the punishment from them until a limited term, they will surely say, 'What restrains it?' Allah says: "Unquestionably, on the Day it comes to them, it will not be averted from them" (the verse).

His saying, the Exalted: "They will surely say, 'What restrains it?'"

10714 - ‘Ali ibn al-Mubarak informed us with his known chain of narration, from Ibn Jurayj: His saying: "They will surely say, 'What restrains it?'" He said: Others said: "They will surely say, 'What restrains it?'" out of denial, and that it is nothing, with His saying: "Unquestionably, on the Day it comes to them, it will not be averted from them, and they will be enveloped by what they used to ridicule."

10715 - Ahmad ibn ‘Uthman ibn Hakim informed us in what he wrote to me, Ahmad ibn al-Mufaddal told us, Asbat told us, from al-Suddi, regarding His saying: "And they will be enveloped by what they used to ridicule," he says: The punishment they used to ridicule befell them.

His saying, the Exalted: "And if We give man a taste of mercy from Us then We withdraw it from him, indeed, he is despairing and ungrateful."

10716 - ‘Ali ibn al-Mubarak informed us in what he wrote to me with his mentioned chain of narration from Ibn Jurayj regarding His saying: "And if We give man a taste of mercy from Us then We withdraw it from him, indeed, he is despairing and ungrateful." O son of Adam, was it not a blessing from Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, of prosperity, security, and well-being? So he is ungrateful for what you have of it, and when it is withdrawn from you, it seeks your emptiness and your work, so he is despairing of the relief of Allah, despondent of His mercy. Likewise, meaning the hypocrite and the disbeliever, he is despairing that he will return to what he was in of it, and ungrateful for what he was in of it.