al-Sajdah

وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَي هَذَا الْفَتْحُ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

قُلْ يَوْمَ الْفَتْحِ لاَ يَنفَعُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِيمَانُهُمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يُنظَرُونَ

فَاَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ وَانتَظِرْ إِنَّهُم مُنتَظِرُونَ

28. “And they ask: ‘When shall be this Victory, if you are truthful?’”
29. “Say: ‘On the day of Victory, the faith of those who disbelieve will not profit them nor will they be respited’.”
30. “Therefore turn away from them and wait, verily they, too, do wait.”

And in view of the fact that the previous verses threatened the guilty to the Divine vengeance and gave glad tidings to the believers about their later leadership and victory, here the pagans proudly ask this question that when do these Divine promises and punishments will be fulfilled? As the Qur’an says:

Immediately after this, the Qur’an answers them and the Prophet (S) is commanded as follows:

That is, if your purpose is that you see the veracity of the Divine promises that you have heard from the tongue of the Prophet (S) and then you believe, that day is too late and that faith does not profit you. It is understood from what was said that the purpose of the phrase /yaum-ul-fath/ (the day of victory) is ‘the immediate punishment’, i.e. the punishment which annihilates the pagans and will not give them respite to believe. In other words, it is a kind of worldly punishment. So it is neither the punishment of the Hereafter nor the ordinary chastisement in this world but it is a punishment which, after completing the argument, puts an end to the life of guilty people.

Finally, in the last verse of this Surah (Surah As-Sajdah) the words are concluded with an expressive and meaningful threat. Addressing the Prophet (S), it says:

Now that neither glad tidings nor warning affect them, nor are they some logical and reasonable people that by observing the Divine signs in the expanse of creation know Him and do not worship other than Him, nor do they have a vigilant conscience that they hearken to the cry of Monotheism from inside their own soul, the Prophet (S) should turn away from them and wait for the grace of Allah and they, too, wait for the punishment of Allah, because they deserve only the punishment.

O Lord! Set us among those who by seeing the first signs of the truth submit to it and believe.

O Lord! Separate us entirely from the moods of pride, haughtiness, and obstinacy.

O Lord! Provide the perfect victory of the army of Islam over the army of disbelief as soon as possible.