(39–40) “Warn them of the Day of Regret, when the matter will have been decided, while they are heedless and do not believe. * Indeed, it is We who will inherit the earth and all who are upon it, and to Us they will be returned.”

A warning is to inform people of something frightening in a manner that instills fear, and to describe its features. The foremost thing of which the servants should be warned and made afraid is the Day of Regret, when the matter is decided. The former and latter generations will be gathered in a single place and questioned about their deeds. Whoever believed in Allah and followed His messengers will attain happiness after which there will be no misery. Whoever did not believe in Allah and follow His messengers will suffer misery after which there will be no happiness (1), and will lose himself and his family.

He will then be filled with regret and feel a remorse that tears hearts apart and rends their very cores. What regret could be greater than forfeiting Allah’s pleasure and Paradise and deserving His wrath and the Fire, while being unable to return and begin his deeds anew, with no way to change his condition by returning to this world?! This awaits them, though in this world, ⦗494⦘ they remain heedless of this tremendous matter. It does not even cross their minds, and if it does, it is merely a passing, heedless thought. Heedlessness has engulfed them and stupor has overcome them. They do not believe in Allah or follow His messengers. Their worldly lives have distracted them, and their fleeting, perishable desires have come between them and faith.

This world and everything within it, from beginning to end, will leave its inhabitants, and they will leave it. Allah will inherit the earth and all who are upon it, bring them back to Him, and recompense them for what they did therein and for whatever loss or gain they incurred. Whoever has done good should praise Allah, and whoever finds otherwise should blame none but himself.