أَفَأَمِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ مَكَرُوا۟ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ أَن يَخْسِفَ ٱللَّهُ بِهِمُ ٱلْأَرْضَ أَوْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ ٱلْعَذَابُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ · أَوْ يَأْخُذَهُمْ فِى تَقَلُّبِهِمْ فَمَا هُم بِمُعْجِزِينَ · أَوْ يَأْخُذَهُمْ عَلَىٰ تَخَوُّفٍ فَإِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ لَرَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
A-fa-amina'lladhīna makaru'l-sayyiʾāti an yakhsifa'llāhu bihimu'l-arḍa aw yaʾtiyahumu'l-ʿadhābu min ḥaythu lā yashʿurūn · Aw yaʾkhudhahum fī taqallubihim fa-mā hum bi-muʿjizīn · Aw yaʾkhudhahum ʿalā takhawwuf, fa-inna rabbakum la-raʾūfun raḥīm
"Do those who plotted evil feel safe that God will not make the earth swallow them, or that the punishment will not come at them from where they do not perceive it? · Or that He will not seize them as they go to and fro — and they cannot thwart Him. · Or that He will not seize them amid a mounting fear. Your Lord is truly most kind, most merciful."
| Order | Possibility | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yakhsifa'llāhu bihimu'l-arḍ | The earth swallowing them — sudden, total |
| 2 | Yaʾtiyahumu'l-ʿadhābu min ḥaythu lā yashʿurūn | From where it is not reckoned — sudden, unlooked for |
| 3 | Yaʾkhudhahum fī taqallubihim | At their business — inside daily life |
| 4 | Yaʾkhudhahum ʿalā takhawwuf | Upon fear — slow, by diminishing |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is this ordering: the list runs from the most sudden to the most gradual. The first two happen in an instant; the third while they are on the move; the fourth is spread over time.
And this must be recorded: wa atāhumu'l-ʿadhābu min ḥaythu lā yashʿurūn had already occurred in the twenty-sixth verse — about a people of the past. Here the same sentence comes back as a possibility. This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra, and it turns an example into a warning.
تَقَلُّب — root ق-ل-ب: to turn, to overturn. A verbal noun of Form V: taqallub, to turn about, to pass from one state into another. The lexicographers record here in particular the going to and fro on the roads for trade.
تَخَوُّف — root خ-و-ف: fear. There is disagreement over the sense of the word here, and it must be set out in a table:
| Reading | What ʿalā takhawwuf is | Ground |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | To be seized while in fear | The common sense of the root |
| 2 | To be seized by diminishing — takhawwuf, "to reduce" | It is transmitted that in some Arab dialects the verb takhawwafa is used in the sense "he reduced it, ate it away at the edge" |
Both readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. The second reading sits better with the four-step ordering above — for what is expected at the end of the list is gradualness. I record this as an observation, not as a preference.
| Verse | Closing | What comes before it |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Inna rabbakum la-raʾūfun raḥīm | A favour — the beast that carries loads |
| 47 | Fa-inna rabbakum la-raʾūfun raḥīm | Four possibilities of punishment |
This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra. And I record this as my own reading, its ground being these two contexts: the same two names, the one after a favour, the other after a threat. The verse thereby says that the deferral too comes from the same attribute — for not one of the four possibilities has come to pass.