“Do they really want Our chastisement to be expedited? Did you consider that if We were to let them enjoy life for many years and then the chastisement of which they were being warned were to come upon them, of what avail would the provisions of life be which they had been granted to enjoy?”
(Al Qur’ān – 26:204-07)
The unbelievers had challenged the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) that the punishment which they had been threatened with should be hastily brought upon them. They so asked because they did not believe that they would indeed be punished. They were confident that they would continue to live a life of ease and self-indulgence. They thus challenged the Prophet because of this confidence, in effect arguing: If you are really a Messenger of God and if by denying you we will incur God’s wrath, then behold, we dare to deny you. Now bring upon the punishment with which you have been threatening us.
In reply, God says that even if they were right that no punishment would come upon them, or that they would not be punished immediately, or that they would be left to enjoy a long life of pleasure and comfort, what would those years of worldly luxury avail them when the inevitable scourge of God overtook then, just as it had overtaken the ‘Ād, the Thamūd, Lot’s people and the Aykah? If nothing else, what would be the worth of these worldly pleasures when they face death which no one can escape?