Quran Universe
22:47

وَيَسۡتَعۡجِلُونَكَ بِٱلۡعَذَابِ وَلَن يُخۡلِفَ ٱللَّهُ وَعۡدَهُۥۚ وَإِنَّ يَوۡمًا عِندَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلۡفِ سَنَةٖ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ

WayastaAAjiloonaka bialAAathabi walan yukhlifa Allahu waAAdahu wainna yawman AAinda rabbika kaalfi sanatin mimma taAAuddoona

And they urge you to hasten the punishment. But Allah will never fail in His promise. And indeed, a day with your Lord is like a thousand years of those which you count.

Word by word
  1. وَيَسۡتَعۡجِلُونَكَAnd they ask you to hasten
  2. بِٱلۡعَذَابِthe punishment
  3. وَلَنBut never will
  4. يُخۡلِفَfail / violate
  5. ٱللَّهُAllah
  6. وَعۡدَهُۥۚ(in) His Promise
  7. وَإِنَّAnd indeed
  8. يَوۡمًاa day
  9. عِندَwith
  10. رَبِّكَyour Lord
  11. كَأَلۡفِ(is) like a thousand
  12. سَنَةٖyear (s)
  13. مِّمَّاof what
  14. تَعُدُّونَyou count
Al-Hajj · 22:47Madinah

They said hurry up the punishment; His day is a thousand years.

Allah's timing and our impatience

Two clocks
the deniersbring it on now
but
one day with your Lordlike a thousand years
Is the promise late
it is not comingit is taking too long
never brokenHe does not hurry

The deniers mocked the Prophet ﷺ by asking for the punishment to come quickly. Ibn Kathir says Allah does not hasten; He knows He will not miss a thing, even if He delays. Allah never fails His promise.

You are waiting for a dua to be answered, checking every week. Someone else is waiting for justice that seems to never come. The verse says His clock is different, and His promise is never broken.

If it has not happened yet, it probably will not.

Allah's promise is certain; only my sense of time is short.

Try this

Renew one dua today that you had stopped making because it felt slow.

Related8:3238:16
Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

And they ask you to hasten on the torment! And Allah fails not His promise. And verily a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you reckon (47)And many a township did I give respite while it was given to wrongdoing. Then I seized it (with punishment). And to Me is the (final) return (of all)(48)

The Disbelievers Demand for the Punishment

Allah tells His Prophet ﷺ:

وَيَسْتَعْجِلُونَكَ بِالْعَذَابِ

(And they ask you to hasten on the torment!) meaning, these disbelievers who disbelieve in Allah and His Book and His Messenger ﷺ and the Last Day. This is like the Ayat:

وَإِذْ قَالُوا اللَّهُمَّ إِن كَانَ هَٰذَا هُوَ الْحَقَّ مِنْ عِندِكَ فَأَمْطِرْ عَلَيْنَا حِجَارَةً مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ أَوِ ائْتِنَا بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ

(And (remember) when they said: "O Allah! If this is indeed the truth from You, then rain down stones on us from the sky or bring on us a painful torment.")(8:32)

وَقَالُوا رَبَّنَا عَجِّل لَّنَا قِطَّنَا قَبْلَ يَوْمِ الْحِسَابِ

(They say: "Our Lord! Hasten to us Qittana (our punishment) before the Day of Reckoning!")(38:16).

وَلَن يُخْلِفَ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ

(And Allah fails not His promise.) means, His promise to bring about the Hour and wreak vengeance upon His enemies, and to honor His close friends.

وَإِنَّ يَوْمًا عِندَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ

(And verily a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you reckon.) means, He does not hasten, for what is counted as a thousand years with His creation is as one day with Him, and He knows that He is able to exact revenge and that He will not miss a thing, even if He delays and waits and postpones. Hence He then says:

وَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَمْلَيْتُ لَهَا وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٌ ثُمَّ أَخَذْتُهَا وَإِلَيَّ الْمَصِيرُ

(And many a township did I give respite while it was given to wrongdoing. Then I seized it (with punishment). And to Me is the (final) return (of all).) Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

يَدْخُلُ فُقَرَاءُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ الْجَنَّةَ قَبْلَ الْأَغْنِيَاءِ بِنِصْفِ يَوْمٍ خَمْسِمِائَةِ عَامٍ

(The poor among the Muslims will enter Paradise half a day before the rich – five hundred years.) This was recorded by At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasa'i from the Hadith of Ath-Thawri from Muhammad bin 'Amr. At-Tirmidhi said, "Hasan Sahih."

Abu Dawud recorded at the end of Book of Al-Malahim in his Sunan from Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas that the Prophet ﷺ said:

إِنِّي لَأَرْجُو أَنْ لَا تَعْجِزَ أُمَّتِي عِنْدَ رَبِّهَا أَنْ يُؤَخِّرَهُمْ نِصْفَ يَوْمٍ

(I hope that it will not be too much for my Ummah if Allah delays them for half a day.) It was said to Sa'd, "What does half a day mean?" He said, "Five hundred years."