Sad Verse 8 | 38:8

اَؤُنْزِلَ عَلَيْهِ الذِّكْرُ مِنْۢ بَيْنِنَا ۗبَلْ هُمْ فِيْ شَكٍّ مِّنْ ذِكْرِيْۚ بَلْ لَّمَّا يَذُوْقُوْا عَذَابِ ۗ ( ص: ٨ )

a-unzila

أَءُنزِلَ

Has been revealed

ʿalayhi

عَلَيْهِ

to him

l-dhik'ru

ٱلذِّكْرُ

the Message

min

مِنۢ

from

bayninā

بَيْنِنَاۚ

among us?"

bal

بَلْ

Nay

hum

هُمْ

They

fī

فِى

(are) in

shakkin

شَكٍّ

doubt

min

مِّن

about

dhik'rī

ذِكْرِىۖ

My Message

bal

بَل

Nay

lammā

لَّمَّا

not

yadhūqū

يَذُوقُوا۟

they have tasted

ʿadhābi

عَذَابِ

My punishment

'A-unzila 'alaihiz zikru mim baininaa; bal hum fee shakkim min Zikree bal lammaa yazooqoo 'azaab (Ṣād 38:8)

Sahih International:

Has the message been revealed to him out of [all of] us?" Rather, they are in doubt about My message. Rather, they have not yet tasted My punishment. (Sad [38] : 8)

1 Mufti Taqi Usmani

Is it (believable) that the message of advice has been sent down to him (alone) from among all of us?” The fact is that they are in doubt about My message; rather, they have not yet tasted My punishment.

2 Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

3 Ruwwad Translation Center

4 A. J. Arberry

5 Abdul Haleem

6 Abdul Majid Daryabadi

7 Abdullah Yusuf Ali

8 Abul Ala Maududi

9 Ahmed Ali

10 Ahmed Raza Khan

11 Ali Quli Qarai

12 Ali Ünal

13 Amatul Rahman Omar

14 English Literal

15 Faridul Haque

16 Hamid S. Aziz

17 Hilali & Khan

18 Maulana Mohammad Ali

19 Mohammad Habib Shakir

20 Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

21 Muhammad Sarwar

22 Qaribullah & Darwish

23 Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

24 Wahiduddin Khan

25 Talal Itani

26 Tafsir jalalayn

Has the Remembrance, the Qur'n, been revealed to him, Muhammad (s), out of [all of] us', when he is neither the elder nor the noblest among us? In other words, it could not have been revealed to him (read a- unzila pronouncing both hamzas, or not pronouncing the second one, but in both cases inserting an intervening alif or without [this insertion]). God, exalted be He, says; Nay, but they are in doubt concerning My Remembrance, My revelation, that is, the Qur'n, for they deny the one who has brought it. Nay, but they have not yet tasted My chastisement, and if they were to taste it, they would certainly believe the Prophet (s) in what he has brought -- but then [in such a case] their belief [in the Prophet] would be of no benefit to them.

27 Tafseer Ibn Kathir

أَأُنزِلَ عَلَيْهِ الذِّكْرُ مِن بَيْنِنَا

Has the Reminder been sent down to him (alone) from among us?

They thought it unlikely that he would be singled out from among them to receive the Qur'an.

This is like the Ayat;

لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ هَـذَا الْقُرْءَانُ عَلَى رَجُلٍ مِّنَ الْقَرْيَتَيْنِ عَظِيمٍ

And they say;"Why is not this Qur'an sent down to some great man of the two towns." (43;31)

Allah said;

أَهُمْ يَقْسِمُونَ رَحْمَةَ رَبِّكَ نَحْنُ قَسَمْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَّعِيشَتَهُمْ فِى الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنْيَا وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَـتٍ

Is it they who would portion out the mercy of your Lord It is We Who portion out between them their livelihood in this world, and We raised some of them above others in ranks. (43;32)

When they said this, it indicated their ignorance and lack of understanding since they thought it was unlikely that the Qur'an would be revealed to the Messenger and not to somebody else.

بَلْ هُمْ فِي شَكٍّ مِّن ذِكْرِي

Nay, but they are in doubt about My Reminder!

بَلْ لَمَّا يَذُوقُوا عَذَابِ

Nay, but they have not tasted (My) torment!

means, they say this because they have not yet tasted the punishment and vengeance of Allah. But they will come to know the consequences of what they say and what they rejected on the Day when they are herded into the fire of Hell.

Then Allah points out that He is the One Who is in control of His Creation and Who does whatever He wills, Who gives whatever He wants to whomever He wants, and honors whomever He wants and humiliates whomever He wants, and guides whomever He wants and misguides whomever He wants, and sends the Ruh (Jibril) by His command upon whomsoever He wants among His servants, and seals the hearts of whomever He wants, so no one can guide him apart from Allah. His servants do not possess any power and have no control over His dominion, not even a speck of dust's weight; they do not possess even a thin membrane over a date stone.

Allah says, denouncing them;

أَمْ عِندَهُمْ خَزَايِنُ رَحْمَةِ رَبِّكَ الْعَزِيزِ الْوَهَّابِ