[1483] “But Allah has endeared Belief to you, making it appealing to your hearts. And He has made Denying, rebelliousness, and disobedience detestable to you. Those are the ones rightly guided. *˹This is˺ A bounty and a blessing from Allah. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise” (49: 7-8).
[1484] Such a clear straight path, Islam, to which there are no twists and turns is easy to see and walk in, but the Deniers are plighted with blotched perceptions. They just cannot bring themselves to Believe in the Message; it is too hard on them as if they are breathing through the eye of a needle, like one climbing up to the sky or gaping heights (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[1485] Those who open up their minds and hearts to ponder the Signs of God while Believing (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, Ibn ʿĀshūr, al-Saʿdī).
[1486] Paradise where they are kept aloof and safe from all worries and dangers (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī)
[1487] This passage depicts a scene from the Day of Judgement and starkly details the humiliating ‘debasement’ of the humans and their jinn ‘allies’ who pitted themselves against the Message. On that Day their truth and the fragility of their alliance will be exposed as they have nothing to offer but lame excuses and shameful confessions. This dark fate is sharply contrasted to that of those who embraced the Message who peacefully dwell in the ‘Abode of Peace’ in great dignity, the telling of which has just been given in the previous aya. Both scenes are brought together by the conjunctive wa (and) found at the beginning of Aya 128 here (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[1488] They heeded no limits in taking humans as followers and in leading them far away from the right path; this resulted in a great many humans being misguided (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī, al-Shinqīṭī): “He ˹Satan, then˺ said: “You see this being ˹Adam˺ You have honoured above me? If You reprieve me until the Day of Resurrection, I will lead all but a few of his descendants by the nose” (17: 62); “Indeed, Iblīs ˹Satan˺ was proved right in his opinion of them, they followed him, except a group of ˹true˺ Believers” (34: 20).
[1489] The jinn ‘enjoyed’ the humans obeying and worshipping them and the humans ‘enjoyed’ that the jinn fulfilled their wishes and gratified their lusts (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī). They volunteered to offer such a lame self-incriminating defense because they knew they were implicated in the taunt directed at the jinn and so they volunteered to answer for themselves and on behalf of their masters, not wanting in the process to appear the lesser party in this alliance (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[1490] Ajal is the period they were destined to stay in life (cf. Aya 2 above; al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī). They state this fact out of sheer despair seeing their more able allies unable to speak for themselves and being hit by the reality they were warned about coming true (cf. al-Alūsī, Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[1491] Such criminals will always flock together and find solace and support and encouragement in each other’s company; they are partners in sin (al-Ṭabarī, al-Wāḥidī, al-Wajīz, al-Saʿdī).
[1492] “…and they said: “Had we listened or reasoned, we would not have been among the companions of the Blaze. *So they confessed their sin; away with the companions of the Blaze” (67: 10-11).
[1493] This is the real reason that they were straying (cf. al-Shinqīṭī, al-ʿAdhb al-Namīr); they were lured by this worldly life and all the pleasures it has to offer.