أَمْ حَسِبَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ أَن يَسْبِقُونَا سَآءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ · مَن كَانَ يَرْجُوا۟ لِقَآءَ ٱللَّهِ فَإِنَّ أَجَلَ ٱللَّهِ لَـَٔاتٍ · وَمَن جَٰهَدَ فَإِنَّمَا يُجَٰهِدُ لِنَفْسِهِۦ
"Did those who do evil deeds suppose that they would outstrip Us? How ill they judge! Whoever hopes for the meeting with God — the term God has set will surely come. Whoever strives, strives only for himself."
In the second verse the question was a-ḥasiba'n-nās (did people suppose); in the fourth verse the same verb comes a second time: am ḥasiba'lladhīna yaʿmalūna's-sayyiʾāt.
| Verse | Who | What is supposed |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Al-nās | Being left without being tested |
| 4 | Alladhīna yaʿmalūna's-sayyiʾāt | Getting ahead and escaping |
أَن يَسْبِقُونَا — root س-ب-ق: to get ahead in a race. The root was treated at al-Baqara 2/148 and at al-Wāqiʿa 56/10, 56/60, and there the active participle (sābiqūn) was compared with the passive participle (masbūqīn). Here it comes in verbal form and as an expectation: to get ahead and escape.
سَآءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ — "how ill they judge." The same expression was treated at al-Jāthiya 45/21, and it was recorded there: what the other side does is named a judgement. I rely on that treatment.
وَمَن جَٰهَدَ فَإِنَّمَا يُجَٰهِدُ لِنَفْسِهِ — the sentence that forms a ring with the sixty-ninth verse of the sūra; it was tabulated in that section.