These verses are understood to have been revealed in defense of the believers, highlighting the divine response to their suffering.
The verses depict the ridicule believers faced from disbelievers and emphasize the ultimate reversal of this dynamic in the hereafter, where the believers witness the fate of their mockers from a place of honor.
Translation of verses 29-36 from Surah Al-Mutaffifin reads:
Indeed the guilty used to laugh at the faithful (29) and when they passed them by they would wink at each other, (30) and when they returned to their folks they would return amused, (31) and when they saw them they would say, ‘Indeed those are the astray!’ (32) Though they were not sent to watch over them. (33) So today the faithful will laugh at the faithless, (34) observing from their couches: (35) Have the faithless been requited for what they used to do? (36)
In the verses preceding this passage, the Quran discusses the immense rewards for the righteous in the hereafter. These verses juxtapose that by detailing the hardships and ridicule faced by believers in this world, illustrating the divine justice that awaits both groups.
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Some Sunni commentators have elaborated that these verses were revealed in response to an incident where hypocrites mocked Imam Ali (AS) and a group of believers.
According to these interpretations, the mockery took place when Imam Ali (AS) and his companions passed by disbelievers in Mecca, who ridiculed their faith and actions. These verses were then revealed to console and defend the believers while forewarning the mockers of their fate in the afterlife.
For further study, refer to the following works:
1. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s Tafsir al-Kabir
2. Qurtubi’s commentary
3. Ibn Kathir’s Tafsir (Volume 2. pp. 4. 535)
4. Zamakhshari’s Al-Kashaf
5. Tafsir al-Bayan (Volume 2, p. 99; Volume 3, p. 556)
6. Tafsir al-Jadid (Volume 6, p. 365)
7. Tafsir Nemuneh (Volume 26, pp. 238, 284)