(204–207) “Is it then Our punishment that they seek to hasten? * Have you considered: if We let them enjoy themselves for years, * and then there comes upon them what they were promised, * of what benefit will all their former enjoyments be to them?”

Allah Most High says: “Is it then Our punishment”—the tremendous, painful punishment, which is neither to be taken lightly nor treated with contempt—“that they seek to hasten?” What, then, has deluded them? Do they possess the strength and endurance to bear it? Or do they have the power to repel or remove it when it descends? Or do they think they can escape Us, imagining that We are incapable of inflicting it?

“Have you considered: if We let them enjoy themselves for years?” That is, consider this: if We do not hasten to send the punishment upon them, but instead grant them respite for several years to enjoy the life of this world, “and then there comes upon them what they were promised” of punishment.