“so that you may be shown mercy.” The apodosis is omitted; its implied meaning is: When this is said to them, they turn away from it. The evidence for this is what follows:

“No sign from among the signs of their Lord comes to them without their turning away from it. (46) And when it is said to them, ‘Spend from that which Allah has provided for you,’ those who disbelieve say to those who believe, ‘Should we feed those whom Allah would feed if He so willed? You are plainly in error.’ (47) And they say, ‘When will this promise be fulfilled, if you are truthful?’ (48) They await only a single blast that will seize them while they are disputing. (49)”

“No sign from among the signs of their Lord comes to them,” that is, no indication of the truthfulness of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, “without their turning away from it.”

“And when it is said to them, ‘Spend from that which Allah has provided for you,’” that is, which Allah has given you, “those who disbelieve say to those who believe, ‘Should we feed,’” that is, provide for, “‘those whom Allah would feed if He so willed?’” This was because the believers said to the disbelievers of Makkah: Spend on the destitute from the wealth which you claim belongs to Allah—namely, the share of your crops and livestock that you designated for Allah. They replied: Should we provide for one whom Allah, if He willed, would provide for, yet has not provided for despite His power to do so? Thus, we conform to Allah’s will and do not feed one whom Allah has not fed.

This is one of the arguments invoked by the miserly, who say: We should not give to one whom Allah has deprived. What they claim is false, for Allah has made some of His creatures wealthy and others poor as a test. He withheld worldly provision from the poor not out of miserliness, and He commanded the wealthy to spend not because He has any need of their wealth, but in order to test the wealthy through the poor with regard to the share He has made obligatory for the poor in the wealth of the rich. No one has any right to object to Allah’s will or His judgment concerning His creation. “You are plainly in error”: the disbelievers say to the believers, You are clearly mistaken in following Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and abandoning what we follow.

“And they say, ‘When will this promise be fulfilled?’” That is, the Resurrection and the raising of the dead, “if you are truthful?”

Allah the Exalted says: “They await,” that is, they wait for, “only a single blast.” Ibn Abbas said: This refers to the first blast of the Trumpet, “which will seize them while they are disputing,” that is, while they are engaged in worldly disputes over buying and selling, and conversing in gatherings and marketplaces.

Hamzah recited it with the kha vowelless and the sad ungeminated, meaning that they overcome one another in dispute. The others recited it with the sad geminated, meaning that they dispute with one another. The t is assimilated into the sad. Ibn Kathir, Yaqub, and Warsh pronounce the kha with an a-vowel, by transferring to it the vowel of the assimilated t. Abu Jafar and Qalun leave it vowelless, while Abu Amr partially articulates the a-vowel of the kha. ⦗93/a⦘ The remaining reciters pronounce the kha with an i-vowel.