(68–70) “By your Lord, We will surely gather them together with the devils; then We will surely bring them around Hell on their knees. * Then We will surely drag out from every faction those most defiant toward the Most Compassionate. * And surely We know best those most deserving of burning therein.”

Allah Most High—the truest of speakers—swears by His Lordship that He will surely resurrect these deniers of the resurrection together with their devils, gathering them for the appointed time of a known Day. “Then We will surely bring them around Hell on their knees”—that is, kneeling because of the intensity of the horrors, the violent convulsions, and the dreadful circumstances, as they await the judgment of the Supremely Great, the Most Exalted. He therefore mentions His judgment concerning them, saying: “Then We will surely drag out from every faction those most defiant toward the Most Compassionate.” That is, from every group and faction of wrongdoers who share in wrongdoing, disbelief, and defiance, We will drag out those who are most defiant, most unjust, and greatest in disbelief, and send them first to the punishment. Then, in the same manner, those gravest in sin will be sent to the punishment, followed by the next gravest.

In that state they will curse one another, each group cursing the other. The later ones will say of the earlier ones: “Our Lord, these are the ones who led us astray, so give them double punishment in the Fire.” He will say, “For each is double, but you do not know. * And the earlier ones will say to the later ones, ‘You were no better than us.’”

All of this accords with His justice, wisdom, and boundless knowledge. He therefore says: “And surely We know best those most deserving of burning therein.” That is, Our knowledge encompasses those most deserving of burning in the Fire. We know them, their deeds, what those deeds warrant, and their due share of the punishment.