“who would say, ‘Do you really believe that, when we have died and become dust and bones, we will indeed be called to account?’ He will say, ‘Will you look?’ Then he will look and see him in the midst of Hell. He will say, ‘By Allah, you nearly brought about my ruin! Had it not been for the grace of my Lord, I would surely have been among those brought forth to it. So are we not to die, except for our first death, and are we not to be punished?’”

“Then they will turn to one another, questioning each other,” that is, the people of Paradise in Paradise will ask one another about their circumstances in the life of this world.

“One of them will say,” that is, one of the people of Paradise: “I once had a companion” in the life of this world who denied the Resurrection.

Mujahid said: “He was a devil.” Others said: “He was a human being.” (1) Muqatil said: “They were two brothers.” The rest said: “They were two business partners: one of them was a disbeliever named Qatrus, and the other was a believer named Yahudha. They are the two whose account Allah Most High related in Surah al-Kahf, in His saying: ‘Set forth for them the example of two men’ (al-Kahf, 32).”

“who would say, ‘Do you really believe’” in the Resurrection, “that, when we have died and become dust and bones, we will indeed be called to account?” That is, recompensed and held to account. This is a question of denial.

“He will say”—Allah Most High will say to the people of Paradise—“Will you look?” into the Fire. It was also said that the believer will say to his brothers among the people of Paradise, “Will you look into the Fire, so that we may see the condition of my brother?” The people of Paradise will reply, “You know him better than we do.”

“Then he will look.” Ibn Abbas said: “In Paradise there are windows through which its people look upon the Fire.” (3) Thus this believer will look and see him in the midst of Hell: he will see his companion in the middle of the Fire. The middle of a thing is called its sawāʾ because its sides are equally distant from it.

“He will say” to him: “By Allah, you nearly brought about my ruin!” That is, by Allah, you nearly caused my destruction. Muqatil said: “By Allah, you nearly led me astray,” and whoever leads a person astray has destroyed him.

“Had it not been for the grace of my Lord”—His mercy and His favor upon me in granting me Islam—“I would surely have been among those brought forth to it,” with you in the Fire.

“So are we not to die, except for our first death” in the life of this world, “and are we not to be punished?” Some said that the people of Paradise will say this to the angels when death is slaughtered: “Are we not to die?” The angels will reply to them, “No.”