أَيْنَمَا تَكُونُواْ يُدْرِككُّمُ الْمَوْتُ
Wheresoever you may be, death will overtake you,
meaning, you shall certainly die and none of you shall ever escape death.
Allah said,
كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ
Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will perish) (55;26)
كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَايِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ
Everyone shall taste death. (21;35)
and,
وَمَا جَعَلْنَا لِبَشَرٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ الْخُلْدَ
And We granted not to any human being immortality before you. (21;24)
Therefore, every soul shall taste death and nothing can save any person from it, whether he performed Jihad or not. Everyone has an appointed time, and a limited term of life.
In the illness that preceded his death, Khalid bin Al-Walid said, while in his bed,
"I participated in so and so number of battles, and every part of my body sustained an injury due to a stab or a shot. Yet here I am, I die in my bed! Let not the eyes of the cowards ever taste sleep."
Allah's statement,
وَلَوْ كُنتُمْ فِي بُرُوجٍ مُّشَيَّدَةٍ
even if you are in fortresses built up strong and high!
means, entrenched, fortified, high and towering. No caution or fortification can ever avert death.
The Hypocrites Sense a Bad Omen Because of the Prophet!
Allah said,
وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ حَسَنَةٌ
And if some good reaches them,
meaning, fertile years and provision of fruits, produce, children, etc., as said by Ibn Abbas, Abu Al-Aliyah and As-Suddi.
يَقُولُواْ هَـذِهِ مِنْ عِندِ اللّهِ وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّيَةٌ
they say, "This is from Allah," but if some evil befalls them,
drought, famine, shortages of fruits and produce, death that strikes their children or animals, and so forth, as Abu Al-`Aliyah and As-Suddi stated.
يَقُولُواْ هَـذِهِ مِنْ عِندِكَ
they say, "This is from you,"
meaning, because of you and because we followed you and embraced your religion.
Allah said about the people of Fir`awn,
فَإِذَا جَأءَتْهُمُ الْحَسَنَةُ قَالُواْ لَنَا هَـذِهِ وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّيَةٌ يَطَّيَّرُواْ بِمُوسَى وَمَن مَّعَهُ
But whenever good came to them, they said;"Ours is this." And if evil afflicted them, they ascribed it to evil omens connected with Musa and those with him. (7;131)
Allah said,
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى حَرْفٍ
And among mankind is he who worships Allah as it were upon the edge (i. e. in doubt). (22;11)
The same is the statement uttered by the hypocrites, who embraced Islam outwardly, but disliked it inwardly. This is why when a calamity befell them, they attributed it to following the Prophet.
Consequently, Allah revealed,
قُلْ كُلًّ مِّنْ عِندِ اللّهِ
Say;All things are from Allah,
Allah's statement that all things are from Him means, everything occurs by the decision and decree of Allah, and His decision shall come to pass for both the righteous and the wicked, the faithful and the disbelievers.
فَمَا لِهَـوُلاء الْقَوْمِ لَا يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ حَدِيثًا
so what is wrong with these people that they fail to understand any word!
Allah then said while addressing His Messenger, but referring to mankind in general