54.46
Abbas - Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs
(Nay, but the Hour (of doom)) the advent of the Hour (is their appointed tryst) of punishment, (and the Hour) of punishment (will be more wretched) more tremendous (and more bitter) than the punishment they suffered on the Day of Badr.
Nay but the Hour is their tryst for chastisement and the Hour that is the chastisement thereat will be more calamitous greater in affliction and more bitter than the chastisement of this world.
Allah the Exalted narrates to us the story of Fir`awn and his people. A Messenger came to them from Allah, Musa supported by his brother Harun. Their Messengers delivered good news if they believe, and a warning if they rejected the Message. Allah supported Musa and Harun with tremendous miracles and great signs, but Fir`awn and his people rejected all of them. Allah took them the way the All-Mighty, the All-Capable would; He destroyed them all leaving none surviving to tell the story of what happened to them. Advising and Threatening the Quraysh Allah said,
أَكُفَّـرُكُمْ
(Are your disbelievers) meaning, `O idolators of the Quraysh,'
خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أُوْلَـئِكُمْ
(better than these) meaning better than the nations that were mentioned here, who were destroyed on account of their disbelief in the Messengers and rejecting the Scriptures. `Are you better than these'
أَمْ لَكُم بَرَآءَةٌ فِى الزُّبُرِ
(Or have you immunity in the Divine Scriptures), `do you have immunity from Allah that the torment and punishment will not touch you' Allah said about the Quraysh,
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ نَحْنُ جَمِيعٌ مُّنتَصِرٌ
(Or say they: "We are a great multitude, victorious'') stating that they believed they will support each other and their great gathering will avail them against those who intend to harm them. Allah the Exalted responded,
سَيُهْزَمُ الْجَمْعُ وَيُوَلُّونَ الدُّبُرَ
(Their multitude will be put to flight, and they will show their backs.) affirming that their gathering shall scatter, and they shall be defeated. Al-Bukhari recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, "The Prophet, while in a dome-shaped tent on the day of the battle of Badr, said,
(O Allah! I ask you for the fulfillment of Your covenant and promise. O Allah! If You wish (to destroy the believers), You will never be worshipped on the earth after today.) Abu Bakr caught him by the hand and said, `This is sufficient, O Allah's Messenger! You have sufficiently asked and petitioned Allah.' The Prophet was clad in his armor at that time and went out, saying,
(Their multitude will be put to flight and they will show their backs. Nay, but the Hour is their appointed time and that Hour will be more grievous and more bitter.)'' Al-Bukhari also recorded that Yusuf bin Mahak said, "I was with the Mother of the faithful, `A'ishah, when she said, `When I was still a young playful girl in Makkah, this Ayah was revealed to Muhammad,
(Nay, but the Hour is their appointed time and that Hour will be more grievous and more bitter.)'' This is the abridged narration that Al-Bukhari collected, but he also collected a longer narration of it in the Book of the Virtues of the Qur'an. Muslim did not collect this Hadith.
54.41-48
Maududi - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an
The address here is directed to the Quraish, as if to say; "When the other nation have been punished for adopting disbelief and showing stubbornness and denying the Truth, why would you not be punished if you adopted the same attitude and conduct ? For you are not a special people in any way."
This is a specific prophecy that was made five years before the hijrah, saying that the hosts of the Quraish who waxed proud of their strength would soon be put to rout by the Muslims. At that time no one could imagine how such a revolution would take place in the near future. Such was the helplessness of the Muslims that a group of them had already left the country and taken refuge in Habash and the rest of the believers lay besieged in Shi'b Abi Talib, and were being starved by the Quraish boycott and siege. Under such conditions no one could imagine that within only the next seven years the tables were going to turn. The pupil of Hadrat 'Ahdullah bin 'Abbas, has related that Hadrat 'Umar used to say : "When this verse of Surah Al-Qamar was sent down. I wondered what hosts it is that would be routed. But when in the Battle of Badr the pagan Quraish were routed and they were fleeing from the battlefield, I saw the Messenger of Allah in his armor rushing forward and reciting this verse: Sa-yuhzam-al -jam'u yuwallun-ad-dubur Then only did I realize that this was the defeat that had been foretold." (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Abi Hatim).
