Surah 22

Surah 22:48

"How many a town have I have spared while it was doing evil! Then I seized it. To Me is the (final) destination."
The Disbelievers Demand for the Punishment Verses 22:47-48
Show Full Scripture Context (22:47-48) — 2 Verses
Verse 47

وَيَسۡتَعۡجِلُونَكَ بِٱلۡعَذَابِ وَلَن يُخۡلِفَ ٱللَّهُ وَعۡدَهُۥۚ وَإِنَّ يَوۡمًا عِندَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلۡفِ سَنَةٖ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ

They seek to hurry you with the punishment. God will not break His promise. Surely a day with your Lord is like a thousand years of what you count.

Verse 48

وَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرۡيَةٍ أَمۡلَيۡتُ لَهَا وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٞ ثُمَّ أَخَذۡتُهَا وَإِلَيَّ ٱلۡمَصِيرُ

How many a town have I have spared while it was doing evil! Then I seized it. To Me is the (final) destination.

Allah tells His Prophet :

Quoted Scripture
"And they ask you to hasten on the torment!"

meaning, these disbelievers who disbelieve in Allah and His Book and His Messenger and the Last Day. This is like the Ayat:

{And (remember) when they said: "O Allah! If this is indeed the truth from You, then rain down stones on us from the sky or bring on us a painful torment."} [8:32]

{They say: "Our Lord! Hasten to us Qittana (our punishment) before the Day of Reckoning!"} [38:16].

{And Allah fails not His promise.} means, His promise to bring about the Hour and wreak vengeance upon His enemies, and to honor His close friends.

Quoted Scripture
"And verily a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you reckon."

means, He does not hasten, for what is counted as a thousand years with His creation is as one day with Him, and He knows that He is able to exact revenge and that He will not miss a thing, even if He delays and waits and postpones. Hence He then says:

Quoted Scripture
"And many a township did I give respite while it was given to wrongdoing. Then I seized it (with punishment). And to Me is the (final) return (of all)."

Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah said:

«The poor among the Muslims will enter Paradise half a day before the rich - five hundred years.»

This was recorded by At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasa'i from the Hadith of Ath-Thawri from Muhammad bin 'Amr. At-Tirmidhi said, "Hasan Sahih."

Abu Dawud recorded at the end of Book of Al-Malahim in his Sunan from Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas that the Prophet said:

«I hope that it will not be too much for my Ummah if Allah delays them for half a day.»

It was said to Sa'd, "What does half a day mean?" He said, "Five hundred years."

— from Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Vol. 6, Page 593-594)

About this Source & Scholarly Authority (Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

Universal Sunni Consensus: Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Azim by Hafiz Ibn Kathir (701–774 AH / 1301–1373 AD) is universally regarded across all major schools of Sunni Islam (traditional, Salafi, Ash'ari) as the most authoritative classical exegesis. It is prized because it relies on Tafsir bil-Ma'thur—interpreting the Quran using the Quran itself, authentic Hadiths of Prophet Muhammad, and recorded statements of the early Companions (Sahabah).

Standard English Edition: This text is from the standard 10-volume English abridgment published by Dar-us-Salam Publications (supervised by Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri), which is the official, most widely distributed English Quranic commentary in mosques and Islamic libraries worldwide today.