Better than this is al-Mubarrad’s understanding of the verse. He said: “It was as though their disbelief had not been apparent to them, since its harmful consequences were hidden from them.”

His meaning is that, because its harmful outcome and dire consequences were hidden from them, their disbelief was, as it were, hidden from them: its true nature had not become apparent to them. When they saw the punishment with their own eyes, its true nature and evil became apparent to them.

He said that this is like saying to someone to whom you had previously spoken about a matter: “What I told you has now become clear to you,” although it had already been clear to him before this. Yet it is difficult to describe their disbelief and polytheism—which they proclaimed before everyone and called everyone to, settled and nomadic alike—as something they concealed merely because its consequences were hidden from them. Someone who openly commits oppression and corruption, kills people, and spreads corruption throughout the land is not said to have concealed these deeds simply because he did not know their evil consequences and they were hidden from him.

The meaning of the verse—and Allah knows best what He intended by His words—is that when these polytheists were made to stand before the Fire, saw it with their own eyes, and knew that they would enter it, they wished to be sent back to this world so that they might believe in Allah and His signs and not again deny His messengers. But He, glorified be He, declared that this was not so: faith was neither in their nature nor in their character. Rather, their disposition was disbelief, polytheism, and denial. Were they sent back, they would be just as they had been before. He also declared that they were lying in their claim that, if they were sent back, they would believe and affirm the truth.

Once the purpose and intended meaning of the verse are established, the purpose of the shift introduced by “Rather” becomes clear, as do the meaning of what became apparent to them, what they had been concealing, and what prompted them to say: “If only we could be sent back! We would not deny our Lord’s signs.” These people knew, while in this world, that they were following falsehood and that the messengers had spoken truthfully in what they conveyed to them from Allah. They knew this with certainty, but concealed it and did not acknowledge it among themselves; indeed, they urged one another to keep it hidden. Thus, what prompted them to wish to return and believe was not learning something they had not previously known about the truthfulness of the messengers, for they had known this and concealed it. On the Day of Resurrection, what became apparent to them was what they had harbored within themselves