“Eat and drink in satisfaction for what you put forth in days gone by.” (24) But as for him who is given his record in his left hand, he will say, “Oh, I wish I had not been given my record, (25) nor known what my account was! (26) Oh, would that it had been the end! (27) My wealth has not availed me. (28) My authority has gone from me.” (29) “Seize him and shackle him, (30) then cast him into Hellfire, (31) then bind him in a chain seventy cubits long.” (32)

“Eat and drink in satisfaction for what you put forth”: that is, the righteous deeds you sent ahead for your Hereafter, “in days gone by”—meaning the days of this worldly life.

“But as for him who is given his record in his left hand”: Ibn al-Sa’ib said, “His left hand will be twisted from his chest (1) behind his back, and then he will be given his record.” It was also said that his left hand will be pulled from his chest to behind his back, and then he will be given his record. “He will say, ‘Oh, I wish I had not been given my record, nor known what my account was!’” He will wish that he had not been given his record because of the vile deeds he sees in it.

“Oh, would that it had been the end!” He will say: Would that the death I died in this world had been the final death, ending all that came after it and cutting off life, so that I would not have lived after it. The final end is a death after which there is no life; he will wish that he had not been resurrected for the reckoning. Qatadah said: He will wish for death, although in this world there was nothing he hated more than death.

“My wealth has not availed me”: it has not warded off anything of Allah’s punishment from me. “My authority has gone from me”: that is, my proof has vanished from me, according to most exegetes. Ibn Zayd said: My dominion and power have departed from me.

Muqatil said: When the limbs testify against him for associating partners with Allah, Allah will say to the keepers of Hell: “Seize him and shackle him”—that is, bind his hand to his neck. “Then cast him into Hellfire”: that is, make him enter Hellfire. “Then bind him in a chain seventy cubits long”: that is, put him through it. Ibn Abbas said: It is seventy cubits by the measure of an angel’s cubit; it enters through his anus and emerges from his nostril. (2) It was also said: It enters through his mouth and emerges from