with an immense love﴾ [al-Fajr: 20]. You can scarcely find anyone who is free of an intense love of wealth. As for love in its absolute sense, it is present in everyone: there is no one who does not love wealth. Intensity, however, is not found in everyone. Some people desire only enough wealth to meet their needs and free them from dependence upon Allah’s servants. Others desire more, while still others desire ever more and more.
The point is that every person loves good—that is, wealth—but the intensity of that love varies from one person to another. Allah Most High then reminds man of a state he must inevitably face, saying: ﴿Does he not know when the contents of the graves are brought forth?﴾ He should therefore prepare for it through his deeds and not make wealth his sole concern. ﴿Does he not know﴾ means: Is he not certain? ﴿When the contents of the graves are brought forth﴾ means that they are uncovered and exposed. People will emerge from their graves before the Lord of the worlds as though they were scattered locusts. They will all emerge at a single blast: ﴿It will be but a single Blast, and at once they will all be brought before Us﴾ [Yā-Sīn: 53].
﴿And what is within the breasts is laid bare﴾—that is, what lies within the hearts: intentions and acts of the heart, such as reliance, yearning, dread, fear, hope, and the like. Here, Allah—Mighty and Majestic—makes what lies within the breasts the decisive consideration, just as He says: ﴿On the Day when secrets are laid bare, he will have neither power nor helper﴾ [al-Tāriq: 9, 10].
This is because, in this world, people are dealt with according to outward appearances. Even a hypocrite is treated as a genuine Muslim is treated. In the Hereafter, however, judgment will be based upon what lies within the heart. We must therefore attend to our hearts before everything else—even before our deeds—because the heart is what everything hinges upon and what recompense will be based upon on the Day of Resurrection. Hence He says: ﴿And what is within the breasts is laid bare﴾.
The connection between the two verses is that bringing forth the contents of the graves draws bodies out from beneath the earth, while laying bare what lies within the breasts brings forth what the breasts conceal. Thus, bringing forth the contents of the graves exposes what the earth conceals, while here what the breast conceals is exposed. The correspondence between the two is evident.