O you who have been given the scripture believe in what We have revealed confirming what is with you before We obliterate faces and turn them inside out or curse them as We cursed those of the Sabbath and God's command is done. In We obliterate faces and turn them inside out the allusion is to the turn- ing away of hearts from spiritual desire irāda to the states of the people of habit ahl al-ʿāda so that despite the abundance of His calls to reject the present world they no longer pay any attention to them.
- 4:4747
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ آمِنُوا بِمَا نَزَّلْنَا مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا مَعَكُمْ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ نَطْمِسَ وُجُوهًا فَنَرُدَّهَا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِهَا أَوْ نَلْعَنَهُمْ كَمَا لَعَنَّا أَصْحَابَ السَّبْتِ ۚ وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ مَفْعُولًا
O people of the Book, believe in what We have revealed, which confirms what is already with you before We disfigure your visages and turn your faces about and curse you, as We did with those who had broken the Sabbath; and what God decrees comes to pass.
- common.revelation-Medinan
- common.hizb : 34