Thus, they say, for example, “May so-and-so perish! How bad his character is!” or, “May so-and-so perish! How vile he is!” and similar expressions.

Regarding the words of Allah Most High, ﴾May man perish!﴿, some scholars said that “man” here refers specifically to the disbeliever, not to every human being, because He subsequently says, ﴾How utterly ungrateful he is!﴿ It is also possible that “man” refers to humanity as a whole, since most human beings are disbelievers. This is established in the authentic hadith in which Allah will say on the Day of Resurrection, “O Adam!” He will reply, “Here I am, ever at Your service.” Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will then say to him, “Bring forth from among your descendants those destined for the Fire.” He will ask, “My Lord, how many are destined for the Fire?” He will say, “From every thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine.” (1) Thus, “man” would refer here to humanity as a whole, while believers are excluded by the evidence of other texts.

﴾How utterly ungrateful he is!﴿ Some scholars said that the word “how” here is interrogative, meaning: “What has caused him to disbelieve? What has driven him to disbelief?” Other scholars said that it expresses astonishment, meaning: “How immense his disbelief is!” Man’s disbelief is so grave because Allah gave him reason, sent messengers to him, revealed scriptures to him, and provided him with everything he needs in order to believe; yet despite all this, he disbelieved, and so his disbelief is immense.

The difference between the two views is that, according to the first, “how” is interrogative, meaning: “What has caused him to disbelieve?” According to the second, it expresses astonishment: how astonishing that he disbelieved when everything needed to clarify truth and guidance and to distinguish disbelief from faith was available to him!

Disbelief here includes every form of disbelief, among them denial of the resurrection. Many disbelievers denied the resurrection and said that people could not possibly be raised after their bones had decayed, as Allah Most High says: ﴾He presents Us with an example, forgetting his own creation. He says, “Who can give life to bones after they have decayed?”﴿ [Yā Sīn: 78].

He therefore says, ﴾From what did He create him?﴿ This is a rhetorical question affirming what is stated immediately afterward: ﴾From a sperm-drop He created him.﴿ That is: You, O man who disbelieves in the resurrection—from what were you created? Were you not created from—