“When We let people taste mercy after hardship has afflicted them, they immediately devise schemes against Our signs. Say, ‘Allah is swifter in planning. Indeed, Our messengers record whatever schemes you devise.’ (21)

“He is the One who enables you to travel by land and sea, until, when you are aboard ships and they sail with them in a favorable wind, and they rejoice in it, a violent wind comes upon them, waves come at them from every side, and they think they are overwhelmed, they call upon Allah, sincerely devoting their religion to Him: ‘If You save us from this, we will surely be among the grateful.’” (22)

“And they say,” meaning the people of Mecca, “‘Why has no sign been sent down to him’”—that is, to Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him—“‘from his Lord,’ according to what we propose? Say, ‘The unseen belongs only to Allah.’” That is, say: You have asked me only about the unseen, and the unseen belongs only to Allah. No one knows why He has not done so; none knows it but Him. It was also said that “the unseen” means the sending down of the sign. ⦗169⦘ No one besides Him knows when He will send it down. “So wait” for its descent; “I too am waiting with you.” It was also said: Wait for Allah’s judgment between us in truth, by granting victory to the one in the right over the one in the wrong.

Regarding His words, exalted is He: “When We let people taste”—meaning the disbelievers—“mercy after hardship,” that is, ease and prosperity after distress and trial. It was also said that this means rain after drought. “That has afflicted them,” that is, struck them. “They immediately devise schemes against Our signs.” Mujahid said: This means denial and mockery. Muqatil ibn Hayyan said: They do not say, “This is from Allah’s provision”; rather, they say, “We were given rain by such-and-such a star.” This is the meaning of His words: “And you make your gratitude for your provision a denial.” (al-Waqi'ah, 56:82)

“Say, ‘Allah is swifter in planning,’” meaning, swifter in punishment, more severe in seizing, and more able to requite. That is, His punishment in destroying you reaches you more swiftly than your attempts to repel the truth. “Indeed, Our messengers”—that is, Our guardian angels—“record whatever schemes you devise.” Yaqub recited it in the third person: “whatever schemes they devise.”

Regarding His words, Most High: “He is the One who enables you to travel”: He causes you to journey and carries you. Abu Jafar and Ibn Amir recited it as “He spreads you abroad,” with a noon and shin, from the word meaning spreading and dispersing: “by land,” upon the backs of riding animals, and at sea, upon