"What their hands have sent ahead"
قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ
qaddamat aydīhim — their hands have sent ahead
Across these verses the Qur'an uses a fixed formula, a perfect verb of Form II from ق-د-م with a plural or dual 'hands' as its subject, to attribute a person's prior conduct to their own hands, and to connect that conduct to what follows it — a misfortune, a punishment, their never wishing for it, their despair — or to present it as what the person forgets or looks at.
In the verses given, the expression is grammatically stable: a 3rd feminine singular perfect of Form II, قَدَّمَتْ, whose subject is the noun يَد (hands), plural أَيْدِي or dual يَدَان, followed by a pronoun. The verb is active, and the hands are its subject; the expression names no object, only the act of 'sending ahead'. What the hands sent ahead is always prior conduct belonging to the addressee's or a third party's own self, and the verses either tie it to a consequence or present it as what the person forgets or looks at. In (2:95) and (62:7) it is the reason 'they will never wish for it, ever'; in (3:182), (8:51) and (22:10) it is introduced by ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا ('that is because of what') and paired with the statement that Allah is not a wrongdoer to the servants; in (4:62) and (28:47) a مصيبة strikes 'because of what their hands have sent ahead'; in (30:36) and (42:48) a سيئة strikes for the same reason, and the outcome is despair or ingratitude. In (18:57) and (78:40) the noun for 'hands' shifts to the dual, يَدَاهُ, and the person 'forgets' or 'looks at' what his two hands sent ahead. Read together, the occurrences show the expression making a fixed attribution to a person's own hands, never to another's. The same root in Form II appears in (49:1), (58:12) and (58:13) with a different construction, تُقَدِّمُوا / فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ, where the verb is 2nd person and, in (58:12) and (58:13), takes an explicit object, and 'hands' belongs to the fixed phrase بَيْنَ يَدَيْ ('before') rather than being the verb's subject.
Where it occurs
- 2:95 Gives the reason they will never wish for it: what their hands have sent ahead.
- 3:182 Introduced by 'that is because of what', attributes the stated outcome to the addressees' own hands.
- 4:62 A misfortune strikes them because of what their own hands have sent ahead.
- 8:51 Introduced by 'that is because of what', attributes the outcome to the addressees' hands.
- 18:57 The person, reminded and turning away, forgot what his two hands had sent ahead.
- 22:10 Introduced by 'that is because of what', uses the dual 'your two hands' with the addressee.
- 28:47 A calamity would strike them for what their hands have sent ahead, prompting their hypothetical complaint.
- 30:36 A bad thing strikes them because of what their hands have sent ahead, and they despair.
- 42:48 A bad thing strikes them because of what their hands have sent ahead, and the human is ungrateful.
- 62:7 Gives the reason they will never wish for it: what their hands have sent ahead.
- 78:40 On the Day, the human will look at what his two hands have sent ahead.
All Qur'anic expressions