Transliteration:( Wa maa kaanal laahu liyu'az zibahum wa anta feehim; wa maa kaanal laahu mu'az zibahum wa hum yastaghfiroon )
"And Allah would not punish them while you are among them [66], nor would Allah punish them while they seek forgiveness [67]."
This verse reveals that Allah withheld punishment from the disbelievers of Makkah because of the physical presence of the Holy Prophet ﷺ among them. His very presence is a manifestation of divine mercy, as echoed in “We sent you not but as a mercy for all the worlds” (21:107).
From this, scholars derive that the Prophet’s closeness brings protection, even in the grave. The proximity of Abu Bakr and Umar (RA) to the Prophet ﷺ is viewed as a reason no punishment reaches them.
Another reason for delayed punishment is the presence of those who seek forgiveness—either current believers or future generations yet to be born. Through Istighfaar, divine punishment is held back. As Ali (RA) said: Two protections were given—one was the Prophet ﷺ, and the other is Istighfaar. While the Prophet ﷺ is no longer physically among us, seeking forgiveness will remain till the Day of Judgment as a means of safety.
The tafsir of Surah Al-Anfal verse 33 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Anfal ayat 31 which provides the complete commentary from verse 31 through 33.
(8:33) But Allah was not to chastise them while you are in their midst; nor was Allah going to chastise them while they sought His forgiveness. [27]
27. This is a rejoinder to the challenge implicit in the above-mentioned remark of the unbelievers. In response it was explained why people were spared heavenly scourge during the Makkan period of the Prophet’s life. The first reason being that God does not punish a people as long as the Prophet is in their midst, busy inviting them to the truth. Such people are rather granted respite and are not deprived of the opportunity to reform themselves by sending a scourge all too quickly. Second, if there are a good number of people in a land who recognize that they have been negligent and heedless and have been guilty of iniquity, who seek God’s forgiveness and strive to reform themselves, there remains no legitimate ground for subjecting them to a heavenly scourge. The time for such a scourge comes when a Prophet who has spared no efforts to reform his people feels that he has exhausted all his efforts, and concludes that his people have no justification to persist in their iniquity, and departs from that land or is banished from it by its people or is murdered by them. A scourge from on high then becomes imminent since the people of that land have proven by their deeds their inability to tolerate any righteous element in their midst.
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