"And then they will say, 'Can we have more time?' How can they ask that Our torment be brought sooner?"
I assumed that 'Can we have more time?' refers to them asking for more time on earth to redeem themselves after the see the fire, but the Quran then says "How can they ask that Our torment be brought sooner?"
Can some on explain what Allah means when saying this.
If they are asking for more time, they are not asking for their torment to be brought sooner.
Let's start from aya 187. They are asking from the messenger of Allah to drop heavy stones from the sky and finish them if he was right.
They are in fact arguing him or challenge him or even make fun of him.
In verse 201 "they will not believe in quran till they face the great punishment and torment. Which comes to them suddenly and without any alerts". When that happens they realize they were wrong arguing and refusing to believe in Allah the all mighty. At that moment they ask to get more time in life. So that they get a second chance and turn into believers.
Then Ayah refers the reader / listener back to ayah 187 and raises a Rhetorical question: how co.e they ask us to bring the torment sooner?
The next ayat just make it clear: even if we give them more time they will not turn into believers anyway.
