“Or lest it should say, ‘Had Allah guided me, I would surely have been among those who fear Him.’ Or lest it should say, when it sees the punishment, ‘If only I could have another chance, I would be among the doers of good.’” (57–58)

“Yes indeed! My signs came to you, but you denied them, acted arrogantly, and were among the disbelievers.” (59)

On the Day of Resurrection, you will see those who spoke lies about Allah with their faces blackened. Is there not in Hell an abode for the arrogant? (60)

And Allah will save those who feared Him by their success: no evil will touch them, nor will they grieve. (61)

“Lest any soul should say” means: lest any soul should say—just as in His saying, “And He cast firm mountains upon the earth lest it should shake with you” (al-Nahl, 16:15), meaning, lest it should shake with you. Al-Mubarrad said: That is, hasten and beware lest any soul should say. Al-Zajjaj said: It means, for fear that you should come to a state in which you say these words.

“Woe is me” means, “O my regret!” Regret is sorrow over what has been missed. What is meant is, “O my regret,” in the possessive form; but the Arabs change the possessive first-person suffix into an alif in expressions of distress, saying, “O my regret!” and “O my remorse!” They may also append the first-person suffix after the alif to indicate possession. This is how Abu Ja‘far recited it: “O my regret!” It has also been said that the meaning of “O my regret!” is: O regret, this is your time.

“Over what I neglected regarding Allah”: Al-Hasan said: “I fell short in obeying Allah.” Mujahid said: “In Allah’s command.” Sa‘id ibn Jubayr said: “In Allah’s due.” It was also said: “I squandered what was due to Allah.” And it was said: its meaning is, “I fell short in the path that leads to Allah’s pleasure.” The Arabs call the side a path.

“And I was among those who mocked”: those who ridiculed Allah’s religion, His Book, His Messenger, and the believers. Qatadah said: It was not enough for him that he neglected obedience to Allah; he even began mocking those who obeyed Him.

“Or lest it should say, ‘Had Allah guided me, I would surely have been among those who fear Him.’ Or lest it should say, when it sees the punishment” plainly, “If only I could have another chance”—a return to this world—“I would be among the doers of good,” that is, among those who affirm Allah’s oneness.

Then this speaker will be told: “Yes indeed! My signs came to you,” meaning the Quran, “but you denied them,” saying that they were not from Allah, “acted arrogantly,” that is, you were too arrogant to believe in them, “and were among the disbelievers.”

“On the Day of Resurrection, you will see those who spoke lies about Allah”—claiming that He has a child and a partner—“with their faces blackened. Is there not in Hell an abode for the arrogant,” those too arrogant to believe?

“And Allah will save those who feared Him by their success.” Hamzah, al-Kisa’i, and Abu Bakr recited: “by their successes,” with an alif, in the plural.