Why does An-Naba 78:30 say God will 'never increase them except in torment'?
Answer
An-Naba 78:30 closes the passage with a severe address: "So taste — for We shall never increase you in anything but torment" (fa-dhūqū fa-lan nazīdakum illā ʿadhāban). The command "taste" turns their denial back on them: they refused to believe in recompense, and now they meet it directly. Ibn Kathīr and al-Qurṭubī both record this among the sternest verses in the Qur'an for the people of the Fire, because it forecloses every hope of relief. But notice precisely what state it describes, and to whom. It is read in context: it follows a sustained, willful rejection of God's signs and of the reckoning itself (78:27–28), recorded on a complete and exact register of deeds (78:29). This is not God reaching eagerly for more pain; al-Saʿdī notes it expresses finality — that once recompense has begun for the unrepentant, there is no further reprieve. It is the gravity of a door deliberately shut from the inside, after every chance to keep it open was refused. And that is the mercy hidden in how terrible it sounds: this verse is being read by you now, on the other side of that door, while it is still open. The same Lord says, "do not despair of the mercy of Allah — indeed He forgives all sins" (39:53). The verse describes where refusal ends; it is placed in your hands so that you will not go there.
Qur’anic evidence — read the full study of 78:30 →
In more depth
The grammar — "never… except" — is emphatic, conveying total finality, which is why the classical scholars singled it out. But finality on the Day of Recompense is the counterpart of openness today: nothing about your account is sealed while you still breathe. The severity of the verse is calibrated to the worth of what is at stake — and a warning this serious, delivered while you can still act on it, is one of the clearest signs that your Lord does not want this end for you.