The Quran

110

Preface

حَتّىٰ إِذَا استَيأَسَ الرُّسُلُ وَظَنّوا أَنَّهُم قَد كُذِبوا جاءَهُم نَصرُنا فَنُجِّيَ مَن نَشاءُ ۖ وَلا يُرَدُّ بَأسُنا عَنِ القَومِ المُجرِمينَ

Yusuf Ali

(Respite will be granted) until, when the messengers give up hope (of their people) and (come to) think that they were treated as liars,¹ there reaches them Our help, and those whom We will are delivered into safety. But never will be warded off our punishment from those who are in sin.

Zannu (comes to think): I construe the nominative of this verb to be “the messengers” in agreement with the best authorities. Kudhibu is the usual reading, though Kudhdhibu, the alternative reading, also rests on good authority. I construe the meaning to be: that God gives plenty of rope to the wicked (as in Joseph’s story) until His own Messengers feel almost that it will be hopeless to preach to them and come to consider themselves branded as liars by an unbelieving world; that the breaking-point is then reached; that God’s help then comes swiftly to His men, and they are delivered from persecution and danger, while the wrath of God overtakes sinners, and nothing can then ward it off. This interpretation has good authority behind it, though there are differences of opinion.