(77–82) “Have you seen the one who disbelieved in Our signs and said, ‘I will surely be given wealth and children’? Has he looked into ⦗500⦘ the unseen, or has he secured a covenant from the Most Merciful? No indeed! We shall record what he says and greatly increase his punishment. We shall inherit from him what he speaks of, and he will come to Us alone. They have taken deities besides Allah so that they might be a source of honor for them. No indeed! Those deities will disavow their worship and become their adversaries.”
That is: Can you not but marvel at the state of this disbeliever, who combined disbelief in Allah’s signs with the grandiose claim that he would be given wealth and children in the Hereafter—in other words, that he would be among the people of Paradise? This is among the most astonishing of claims. Had he believed in Allah and then made such a claim, it would have been less remarkable.
Although this verse was revealed concerning a particular disbeliever, it applies to every disbeliever who claims to be upon the truth and among the people of Paradise. Allah rebukes him and declares his claim false: “Has he looked into the unseen?” That is, has his knowledge encompassed the unseen so thoroughly that he knows what will occur, including that he will be given wealth and children on the Day of Resurrection? “Or has he secured a covenant from the Most Merciful” guaranteeing that he will receive what he claims? Neither is the case. It is therefore evident that he is fabricating claims and speaking without knowledge.
This division into the only two possible alternatives is among the most forceful ways of compelling assent and establishing the proof. Anyone who claims that he will receive good from Allah in the Hereafter must fall into one of two categories: either his claim proceeds from knowledge of future unseen matters—yet it is known that such knowledge belongs to Allah alone, and no one knows anything of the unseen future except those messengers to whom Allah grants such knowledge—or he has secured a covenant with Allah by believing in Him and following His messengers, a covenant Allah has made with those entitled to it, inspiring them to know that they are the people of the Hereafter and the saved who attain success.
When both possibilities are absent, the falsity of the claim becomes evident. Allah Most High therefore says: “No indeed!” That is, matters are not as he claims. This man possesses no knowledge of the unseen, for he is a disbeliever with no knowledge of the revealed messages, nor has he secured a covenant from the Most Merciful, because of his disbelief and lack of faith. Rather, he deserves the very opposite of what he has fabricated. His words will be written down and preserved so that he may be requited and punished for them. Allah therefore says: “We shall record what he says and greatly increase his punishment.” That is, We shall subject him to ever more kinds of punishment, just as he increased in error and misguidance.
“We shall inherit from him what he speaks of.” That is, We shall inherit his wealth and children from him, and he will depart this world alone, without wealth, family, supporters, or helpers. “And he will come to Us alone.” He will then experience the grievous torment and painful punishment that constitute the recompense of wrongdoers like him.