and his authority, strength, and resources. He will be told, “No!” There is no way for you to return; you were given a lifetime long enough for anyone willing to take heed to do so.

Since a generous and merciful person would normally grant pardon to someone who seeks it, and give him more time to reflect on what he has missed, Allah, glorified is He, explains that this neglectful person’s request to return is merely a word he utters, with no substance behind it. His disposition and nature would refuse to do righteous deeds even if his request were granted. It is only something he says with his tongue. If he were sent back, he would return to what he had been forbidden; he is indeed a liar.

The wisdom of the Wisest of judges, His might, His knowledge, and His praiseworthiness therefore preclude granting his request, for there would be no benefit in doing so. If he were sent back, his condition would be just as it was before. As Allah Most High says:

“If you could but see when they are made to stand before the Fire and say, ‘Oh, if only we could be sent back! We would not deny the signs of our Lord, and we would be among the believers.’ Rather, what they used to conceal has now become apparent to them. Even if they were sent back, they would return to what they had been forbidden.” [6:27]

In His words, “No! If you knew with certainty,” the conclusion of the conditional statement is omitted, but the preceding passage indicates it: rivalry for more would not have distracted you. This rivalry, and its distraction from what deserves your attention more, arose because you lacked certain knowledge: knowledge that reaches the level of self-evident certainties, whose truth and reality admit neither doubt nor dispute. Had the reality of this knowledge reached the heart and touched it directly, nothing would have distracted it from what that knowledge requires, and its effects would have followed. Merely knowing that something is evil and has bad consequences may not be enough to make someone abandon it. Once that knowledge becomes certain, its power to make him abandon it becomes stronger. When it becomes certainty through direct sight, like things witnessed firsthand, failure to act as it requires becomes exceedingly rare.

It was in this sense that Hassān ibn Thābit, may Allah be pleased with him, said of those at Badr:

We marched, and they marched to Badr—to their death;
Had they known with certainty, they would not have marched.