وَبَدا لَهُم سَيِّئَاتُ ما كَسَبوا وَحاقَ بِهِم ما كانوا بِهِ يَستَهزِئونَ
The evils of what they had earned will appear to them, and they will be besieged by what they used to deride.
EXEGESIS
Ḥāqa is used when some calamity or difficulty descends upon someone. Sometimes it also involves an element of surrounding, besieging, and encompassing the individual. It is always used in the Quran when talking about the occurrence of some evil or punishment.
EXPOSITION
This verse is exactly repeated in 45:33. It is a Quranic principle that Every soul is hostage to what it has earned (74:38; see also 2:286, 4:111, 17:7, 41:46, 45:15, and 52:21). God gives respite to His servants so that they may repent, believe, and correct their mistakes. However, if they use God’s respite and bounties only to increase in their wrongdoing, then these evil deeds will encompass them and will gradually close the doors of receiving God’s mercy and forgiveness on them. Certainly whoever commits misdeeds and is besieged by his iniquity – such shall be the inmates of the fire, and they shall remain in it [forever] (2:81).
The evils of what they had earned could mean the following: 1. The evil consequences of their sins, because The requital of evil is an evil like it (42:40). 2. The evil things among all of their acts. 3. The evil reality of their deeds which will manifest to them on the day of truth (78:39). They will realise the true evil nature of what they had supposed to be good deeds (18:104). Based on this meaning, as well as the term badā (appear), what shall appear to them is something that had existed before, except that they were heedless of it: You were certainly oblivious of this. We have removed your veil from you, and so your sight is acute today (50:22). The same interpretations apply to verse 51.
The appearance of their evil deeds to them could mean that they will realise their transgression, admit their wrongdoing, and convict themselves. Hence, God’s verdict will be accompanied by justification.
What they used to deride specifically pertains to God’s promises and threats concerning the hereafter, delivered through His prophets and in His books (6:5, 6:10, 15:11, 21:41, 26:5-6, 30:10, 36:30, 43:7, 46:26). These verses describe an established custom of God by which all nations and generations are treated. Those who were before them had acted likewise; Allah did not wrong them, but they used to wrong themselves. So the evils of what they had earned visited them, and they were besieged by what they used to deride (16:33-34).
[1] Ayn; Raghib; Fayyumi; Bahrayn, under ḥ-y-q.
[2] Tahqiq, under ḥ-y-q.
[3] Tibyan, 9/35; Tabrisi.J, 3/460; Zamakhshari, 4/133.
[4] Mizan, 17/272-273.
[5] Qaraati, 8/182-183.