“They will say to their skins, ‘Why did you bear witness against us?’ They will say, ‘Allah, who gives speech to all things, has given us speech. He created you the first time, and to Him you will be returned.’ (21) You did not hide yourselves for fear that your hearing, your sight, or your skins would bear witness against you; rather, you thought that Allah did not know much of what you used to do.” (22)

“Until, when they reach it”—that is, when they reach the Fire—“their hearing, their sight, and their skins will bear witness against them”: that is, their bodily skins, “concerning what they used to do.” Al-Suddi and a group of others said: What is meant by “skins” is the private parts. Muqatil said: Their limbs will speak of the deeds that their tongues had concealed.

“And they will say”—meaning, the disbelievers who are gathered for the Fire—“to their skins, ‘Why did you bear witness against us?’ They will say, ‘Allah, who gives speech to all things, has given us speech.’” The statement ends here. Allah Most High then says: “He created you the first time”; this is not part of the skins’ reply. “And to Him you will be returned.”

“You did not hide yourselves,” that is, conceal yourselves, according to most scholars. (1) Mujahid said: You did not protect yourselves. Qatadah said: You did not think that “your hearing, your sight, or your skins would bear witness against you; rather, you thought that Allah did not know much of what you used to do.”

Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Na'imi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il narrated to us; al-Humaydi narrated to us; Sufyan informed us; Mansur informed us, from Mujahid, from Abu Ma'mar, from Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, who said: Two men from Thaqif and one Qurayshi—or two Qurayshis and one man from Thaqif—gathered near the House. Their bellies were full of fat, but their hearts had little understanding. One of them said, “Do you think Allah hears what we say?” Another said, “He hears us when we speak aloud, but He does not hear us when we speak secretly.” The other said, “If He hears us when we speak aloud, then He surely hears us when we speak secretly.” Thereupon Allah Most High revealed: “You did not hide yourselves for fear that your hearing, your sight, or your skins would bear witness against you; rather, you thought that Allah did not know much of what you used to do.” (2) It was said that the man from Thaqif was Abd Yalil, and his two Qurayshi in-laws were Rabi'ah and Safwan ibn Umayyah.