What is the significance of using the past tense in the saying of Allah the Exalted: “When the occurrence occurs,” even though it has not yet occurred?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner asks: What is the significance of using the past tense verb in His saying?
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
He asks: What is the significance of using the past tense verb in His saying, “When the occurrence occurs” and “when the earth is shaken,” and what is mentioned in His saying “were” and “you were,” while the occurrence has not yet taken place?
The Shaykh:
If, if, because “if” refers to what is to come in the future before it. If, if the earth is shaken and you were, meaning if you were, is attached to “so if.” “If” refers to what is to come in the future, and “when” refers to what has passed in the past. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner asks: What is the significance of using the past tense verb in His saying?
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
He asks: What is the significance of using the past tense verb in His saying, “When the occurrence occurs” and “when the earth is shaken,” and what is mentioned in His saying “were” and “you were,” while the occurrence has not yet taken place?
The Shaykh:
If, if, because “if” refers to what is to come in the future before it. If, if the earth is shaken and you were, meaning if you were, is attached to “so if.” “If” refers to what is to come in the future, and “when” refers to what has passed in the past. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [941- 4717] ما دلالة استعمال الفعل الماضي في قوله تعالى:(إذا وقعت الواقعة﴾ وهي لم تقع بعد؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.