the command of Allah [came upon] the people, and Allah never seizes a people except during their indulgence, their delusion, and their state of comfort. So do not be deluded by Allah, for none feels secure from the plan of Allah except the losing people.

8762 - 'Ali ibn al-Husayn told us, Muhammad ibn Abi Hammad told us, Mihran told us, from Sufyan regarding His saying: "So We seized them suddenly," he said: After sixty years.

8763 - My father told us, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim ibn Kathir al-Daruqi told me, Muhammad ibn Shaybah, the nephew of Ibn al-Mubarak, told us, Ibn al-Mubarak told us, from Muhammad ibn al-Nadr al-Harithi regarding His saying: "So We seized them suddenly," he said: They were granted a respite of twenty years.

His saying, the Almighty: "And if only the people of the cities had believed"

8764 - Muhammad ibn Yahya told us, al-'Abbas ibn al-Walid al-Narsi informed us, Yazid ibn Zuray' told us, Sa'id told us, from Qatadah regarding His saying: "And if only the people of the cities [ahl al-qura] had believed," he said: They believed in what was sent down.

His saying, the Almighty: "And feared Allah [wa-ittaqaw]"

8765 - And through the same chain, from Qatadah regarding His saying: "[Had they] believed and feared Allah," he said: They feared what Allah has forbidden.

His saying, the Almighty: "We would have opened for them blessings from the heaven and the earth"

8766 - 'Ali ibn al-Husayn told us, al-Muqaddami told us, Muslim told us, al-Minhal ibn 'Isa told me, Mu'adh ibn Rifa'ah told me, from Musa al-Ta'ifi, he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Honor bread, for Allah sent it down from the blessings of the heaven and brought it out from the blessings of the earth."

His saying, the Almighty: "Then do the people of the cities feel secure"

8767 - My father told us, Sa'id ibn Dawud told us, Yusuf ibn 'Atiyyah told us, from al-Mu'alla ibn Ziyad al-Qardusi, he said: Harim ibn Hayyan used to go out in the middle of the night, then recite: "Then do the people of the cities feel secure that Our punishment will come to them at night while they are asleep?"

8768 - My father told us, Ibn Abi Ziyad al-Qatawani told us, Sayyar told us, Ja'far told us, he said: I heard Malik ibn Dinar saying: The daughter of al-Rabi' said to her father: "O my father, why do I see the people sleeping while I do not see you sleeping?" He said: "O my daughter, I fear the punishment by night [al-bayat]."

8769 - My father told us, Ibn Abi Ziyad told us, Sayyar told us, Ja'far told us, he said: I heard Malik ibn Dinar: "If I were able to not sleep, I would not sleep for fear that the punishment might descend while I am asleep. And if I found helpers, I would scatter them throughout all the lands of the earth to call out: 'O people, the Fire! The Fire!'"