مَا يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً تَأْخُذُهُمْ وَهُمْ يَخِصِّمُونَ
They are waiting for nothing but a single blast that will seize them while they are arguing with one another
مَا يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً تَأْخُذُهُمْ وَهُمْ يَخِصِّمُونَ
They are waiting for nothing but a single blast that will seize them while they are arguing with one another
This is the Quran's answer to the deniers' mocking question. In response to their ridicule, the verse itself speaks with a tone that exposes the emptiness of their challenge. They ask when the promise will come, but the answer does not indulge their mockery: a single blast is enough to bring the lives of those still living at that time to an end, catching them without an opportunity to escape.
The expression “a single blast” highlights the ease with which God's decree takes effect. In the context of the following verses, it is the first blowing of the Trumpet, associated with the final stage of earthly life. This does not mean that everyone who has died throughout history died through that blast. The verse describes a general event at the end of the present order.
The words “while they are arguing with one another” depict people absorbed in ordinary disagreements and activities, unaware that their familiar world is about to end. Life can occupy people so fully that they behave as though it could continue forever.
Thus the point is not to supply the date demanded in mockery, but to emphasise that the event is certain and comes unexpectedly. A person who takes that truth seriously does not endlessly postpone today's responsibilities to an uncertain tomorrow.