[2384] It is the blindness of the heart not the eyes that is the real blindness (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, al-Qurṭubī): “For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the chests!” (22: 46)
[2385] Those who are adamantly defiant and unreceptive of the Message only wrong themselves. God, the All-Just, requites them for refusing to Believe (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr): “It is not for your Lord to wrong ˹His˺ servants” (41: 46). Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger (ﷺ) said that God said: “My servants, I made injustice forbidden for Myself and I made it forbidden among you. Do not treat each other with injustice” (Muslim: 2577).
[2386] Another disputed article of Faith is taken up here, i.e. resurrection and reckoning, as well as the coming of what the Messenger (ﷺ) warned them against. The Deniers’ snobbish attitude arises from their obliviousness to the transience of life, which was so beautifully illustrated earlier in this sura. This notion is further underlined here so as to drive the message home (cf. al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar).
[2387] Only then do they realize their fatal error; they overrated this worldly life. Now they know for real how short-lived it was and have a better estimation of it, but a little too late (cf. al-Shawkānī, Riḍā): “On the Day the Hour comes, the criminals will swear that they did not stay ˹in this world˺ more than an hour; thus they have always been deluded!” (30: 55); “He ˹Allah˺ said: “How many years did you stay on Earth? *They said: “We stayed a day or a part of a day, but ask those who keep count.” * He said: “You stayed but a little, if you but knew!” (23: 112-114)
[2388] Although they vehemently denied life after death (“They were insistent on the gravest of sins. *And they used to say: “Will we be, after we die and have turned into dust and bones, resurrected!” (56: 46-47)), on that Day they will gravely come to realize how misled they were when they actually see each other in the flesh and their mental abilities restored to their former pre-death state as if nothing in between had happened (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr). Then, their interaction is only one of mutual reproach (cf. Ibn ʿAṭiyyah).
[2389] The message here is that there is no need to rush matters. The coming due of what they are promised is a resigned conclusion since the respite they are allowed is terminated by the coming of their Messenger. By his coming, wheat is sorted out from the chaff and evidence of the Truth is conclusively provided (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[2390] Those who Believe in the Message are spared but those who deny it are doomed; they taste Divine punishment in this worldly life (cf. Abū al-Suʿūd, al-Shawkānī, al-Saʿdī, Ibn ʿĀshūr): “Never were We to punish until, We send a Messenger!” (17: 15)
[2392] The Messenger (ﷺ) is no more than a human deliverer of what he is told by God. He has no control over such matters (cf. al-Rāzī, al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar).
[2393] That is, a set time for every nation to taste Divine Wrath and retribution should it persist in Denying (al-Ṭabarī, al-Wāḥidī, al-Basīṭ, Shinqīṭī, al-ʿAdhb al-Namīr).
[2394] “So when they saw Our might, they said: “We Believe in Allah alone and reject all what we Associated as partners with Him.” *But their believing was of no benefit to them when they saw Our might. This has ˹always˺ been Allah’s way ˹of dealing˺ with His ˹rebellious˺ servants; there the Deniers were in ˹utter˺ loss” (40: 84-85).
[2395] “The Day they are shoved fiercely into the Fire of Hell. *This is the Fire that you used to deny! *Is this magic, or do you not see? Burn in it – it makes no difference whether you bear it patiently or not – you are only being repaid for what you have done!” (52: 13-16).
[2396] This is another of their devious machinations: once they feign that they were in a hurry for it only to show that they could not care less for it, being in total denial of it, and once they pretend to be candidly inquiring about it hoping to soften the Messenger (ﷺ) to give them an answer to their liking (cf. al-Rāzī, Ibn ʿĀshūr). Thus they received the definitely affirmative answer; a rare oath (only occurring thrice in the Qur’an (cf. also: 34: 3 and 64: 7)) by the most Noble Messenger (ﷺ).