Translation of the meanings Ayah 21 Surah Yūnus - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary - The Noble Qur'an Encyclopedia

Ayah: 21

وَإِذَآ أَذَقۡنَا ٱلنَّاسَ رَحۡمَةٗ مِّنۢ بَعۡدِ ضَرَّآءَ مَسَّتۡهُمۡ إِذَا لَهُم مَّكۡرٞ فِيٓ ءَايَاتِنَاۚ قُلِ ٱللَّهُ أَسۡرَعُ مَكۡرًاۚ إِنَّ رُسُلَنَا يَكۡتُبُونَ مَا تَمۡكُرُونَ

(21) ^[2324]Whenever We make humans taste mercy after a hardship that touched them, no sooner, they work their wiles against Our Signs^[2325]! Say ˹Muhammad˺ “Allah is swifter in wiles”.^[2326] Indeed Our messengers write down what you scheme^[2327].

[2324] This passage identifies the source of the Deniers’ surety by means of which they make such foolhardy demands and toy with God’s most serious Message. They felt secure that no harm could come their way (cf. Abū Ḥayyān, Ibn ʿĀshūr). But the precariousness and transience of life as they know it, is beautifully pictured in this passage and the next one through illustrative examples, so that they may reconsider their position: “People! Worship your Lord Who created you and those before you so that you might be Mindful. *He Who made the land a carpet and the sky a roof for you, and sent water down from the sky and grew with it ˹all sorts of ˺ produce as provisions for you. Therefore, ˹knowing this,˺ do not set up ˹rivalling˺ equals for Him” (2: 21-22).
[2325] These could be the cosmic Sings (cf. al-Rāzī, Riḍā) as well as the Qur’anic Signs (cf. al-Wāḥidī, al-Basīṭ, Ibn ʿĀshūr); as they could all be denied and/or misinterpreted.
[2326] “Yet ˹in the end,˺ such evil scheming engulfs none but its authors” (35: 43).
[2327] Rusulunā (Our messengers) are the angels who are in charge of recording people’s deeds (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī, Abū Ḥayyān): “Or do they think We cannot hear their secret ˹thoughts˺ and their private counsel? Yes indeed and Our messengers are at their sides, recording ˹everything˺” (43: 80).