“He created the heavens and the earth in truth, and He fashioned you and perfected your forms; and to Him is the final return. (3) He knows all that is in the heavens and the earth. He knows what you conceal and what you disclose, and Allah knows well what is within the hearts. (4) Has there not come to you the news of those who disbelieved before? They tasted the evil consequence of their affair, and theirs will be a painful punishment. (5) That was because their messengers came to them with clear proofs, but they said, ‘Are human beings to guide us?’ So they disbelieved and turned away, and Allah had no need of them. Allah is Free of all need, Praiseworthy. (6) Those who disbelieve claim that they will never be resurrected. Say, ‘Indeed, by my Lord, you will surely be resurrected; then you will certainly be informed of what you did. That is easy for Allah.’ (7) So believe in Allah, His Messenger, and the light that We have sent down. Allah is fully aware of what you do. (8) On the Day He gathers you for the Day of Assembly—that is the Day of Mutual Loss and Gain. Whoever believes in Allah and does righteous deeds, He will erase his misdeeds from him and admit him into Gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein forever. That is the supreme triumph. (9)”
“He knows all that is in the heavens and the earth. He knows what you conceal and what you disclose, and Allah knows well what is within the hearts.”
“Has there not come to you”—addressing the disbelievers of Mecca—“the news of those who disbelieved before,” meaning the former nations? “They tasted the evil consequence of their affair,” that is, the punishment which befell them in this world, “and theirs will be a painful punishment” in the Hereafter.
“That”—that punishment—was because their messengers came to them with clear proofs, but they said, “Are human beings to guide us?” He did not say, “Is a human being to guide us?” because although the word bashar (human beings) has a singular form, it carries a plural meaning. It is a generic noun whose singular is not derived from its own form; its singular is insān (a human being). Its meaning is that they objected, saying: “Should a human being like ourselves guide us?!”
“So they disbelieved and turned away, and Allah had no need” of their faith. “Allah is Free of all need” of His creation, “Praiseworthy” in His actions.
He then relates their denial of the resurrection, saying—exalted is His mention: “Those who disbelieve claim that they will never be resurrected. Say...” “Those who disbelieve claim that they will never be resurrected. Say, O Muhammad: ‘Indeed, by my Lord, you will surely be resurrected; then you will certainly be informed of what you did. That is easy for Allah. So believe in Allah, His Messenger, and the light that We have sent down’”—namely, the Quran—“and Allah is fully aware of what you do.”
“On the Day He gathers you for the Day of Assembly,” meaning the Day of Resurrection, on which He will gather the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth. “That is the Day of Mutual Loss and Gain.” This is a reciprocal form derived from ghabn (loss), which is to miss one’s allotted share. What is meant by the one who has lost out is the one deprived of his family and his dwellings in Paradise. On that Day, the loss of every disbeliever for having abandoned faith, and the loss of every believer for his shortcomings in doing good, will become manifest.
“Whoever believes in Allah and does righteous deeds, He will erase his misdeeds from him and admit him into Gardens beneath which rivers flow.” The reciters of Medina recited