Quran Universe
22:48

وَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرۡيَةٍ أَمۡلَيۡتُ لَهَا وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٞ ثُمَّ أَخَذۡتُهَا وَإِلَيَّ ٱلۡمَصِيرُ

Wakaayyin min qaryatin amlaytu laha wahiya thalimatun thumma akhathtuha wailayya almaseeru

And for how many a city did I prolong enjoyment while it was committing wrong. Then I seized it, and to Me is the [final] destination.

Word by word
  1. وَكَأَيِّنAnd how many
  2. مِّنof
  3. قَرۡيَةٍa township
  4. أَمۡلَيۡتُI gave respite
  5. لَهَاto it
  6. وَهِيَwhile it
  7. ظَالِمَةٞ(was) doing wrong
  8. ثُمَّThen
  9. أَخَذۡتُهَاI seized it
  10. وَإِلَيَّand to Me
  11. ٱلۡمَصِيرُ(is) the destination
Al-Hajj · 22:48Madinah

Many towns were given time, and all return to Him.

The respite ends, the return is certain

The arc
a town doing wrongcomfortable
given
timeenjoyment prolonged
then
to Me the returnfor everyone
Where it ends
it goes on foreverlife as usual
the final returnto Allah

Ibn Kathir reads this as following from the previous verse: He delays and waits, then seizes. He also records the Prophet ﷺ saying the poor believers enter Paradise half a day before the rich, five hundred years.

Payday, holidays, a new phone. Life feels long and comfortable. The verse quietly finishes the sentence: and to Me is the return. Comfort is not the ending.

Things will just keep going the way they are.

Every comfortable stretch ends in returning to Allah; I should be ready.

Try this

End today with a short account: one thing to thank Allah for, one to ask forgiveness for.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 22:47)

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."