“We certainly brought them a Book which We have set forth in detail with full knowledge, as guidance and mercy for a people who believe.” (52) Are they waiting for anything but its fulfillment? On the Day its fulfillment comes, those who had disregarded it before will say, “The messengers of our Lord indeed came with the truth. Are there then any intercessors for us, that they may intercede for us? Or could we be sent back, so that we might do other than what we used to do?” They have lost themselves, and whatever they used to invent has forsaken them. (53)
As for His saying, Exalted is He: “And the people of the Fire will call out to the people of Paradise, ‘Pour upon us’”—that is, give us to drink—“some water, or some of what Allah has provided for you,” meaning: give us generously from the food of Paradise that Allah has provided for you.
‘Ata’ narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas: When the people of the A‘raf entered Paradise, the people of the Fire hoped for relief. They said, “Our Lord, we have relatives among the people of Paradise; grant us permission to see them and speak to them.” Thus, they will look upon their relatives in Paradise and the bliss they enjoy, recognizing them, while the people of Paradise will not recognize them because of the blackness of their faces. Then the people of the Fire will call the people of Paradise by their names, reminding them of their kinship: “Pour upon us some water, or some of what Allah has provided for you.” They will say, “Indeed, Allah has forbidden them both to the disbelievers”—meaning, the water and the food.
“Those who took their religion as amusement and play”: this refers to what Satan made attractive to them, such as prohibiting bahirah animals and similar practices, whistling and handclapping around the Sacred House, and all the other blameworthy practices they used to commit in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance. It was also said that their religion means their festival. “And whom the life of this world deceived. So today We will forget them”: that is, We shall leave them in the Fire, “just as they forgot the meeting of this Day of theirs,” meaning, just as they abandoned deeds in preparation for the meeting of this Day of theirs, “and as they used to reject Our signs.”