Is it not time for those who believe — this was revealed concerning the matter of the Companions [of the Prophet] who had been overindulging in jest, that their hearts should be humbled to the remembrance of God and [to] what has been revealed (read as nuzzila; or read nazala, ‘[what] has come down’) of the truth, the Qur’ān, and that they should not be (lā yakūnū is a supplement to takhsha‘a, ‘be humbled’) like those who were given the Scripture before?, namely, the Jews and the Christians. For the stretch of time, the interval [extending] from them [back] to [the time of the sending of the last of] their prophets, was too long for them and so their hearts became hardened, unyielding to the remembrance of God, and many of them are immoral.
