(102–104) “On the Day the Trumpet is blown, We will gather the evildoers blue with terror. They will whisper to one another, ‘You remained there for only ten days.’ We know best what they will say, when the most judicious among them says, ‘You remained there for only a day.’”

That is, when the Trumpet is blown and people emerge from their graves, each will be gathered according to his condition. The God-fearing will be gathered before the Most Merciful as honored delegations, while the evildoers will be gathered with their complexions turned blue from fear, anxiety, and thirst. They will confer among themselves in hushed voices about how short their worldly lives were and how swiftly the Hereafter arrived. Some will say, “You remained there for only ten days,” while others will say otherwise. Allah knows their whispered conversations and hears what they say: “When the most judicious among them says”—that is, the fairest and most accurate in his estimation—“You remained there for only a day.”

The point of this is their profound regret: how they squandered those brief spans of time, passing them in heedlessness and amusement, turning away from what would benefit them and pursuing what would harm them. Now the recompense has arrived and the threatened punishment has become inevitable, leaving them with nothing but regret and cries of woe and ruin.

As Allah Most High says: “He will say, ‘How many years did you remain on earth?’ They will say, ‘We remained for a day or part of a day; ask those who keep count.’ He will say, ‘You remained for only a little while, if only you had known.’”