Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AL HAJJ [47]

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. 48. 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). Here Allah consoles His Prophet Muhammad for the disbelief of those among his people who opposed him.

(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.) (48. 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).) Allah tells His Prophet :

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

(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﴾ H

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

(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.

(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:

(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 said:

(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 said:

(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.''