(123–127) “He said, ‘Descend from it, both of you—all together. Some of you will be enemies to others. Then, whenever guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance will neither go astray nor suffer misery. But whoever turns away from My reminder will have a constricted life, and We will raise him blind on the Day of Resurrection.’ He will say, ‘My Lord, why have You raised me blind when I used to see?’”
Allah Most High informs us that He commanded Adam and Iblis to descend to the earth, and that [Adam and his descendants] (1) were to take Satan as their enemy, remain on their guard against him, prepare themselves to confront him and wage war against him. He would send down Books to them and dispatch messengers who would show them the straight path leading to Him and His Paradise, and warn them against this manifest enemy. Whenever that guidance—the Books and the messengers—came to them, whoever followed it by obeying what it commanded and avoiding what it forbade would neither go astray in this world or the Hereafter nor suffer misery in either. Rather, he would be guided to a straight path in this world and the Hereafter, and would enjoy happiness and security in the Hereafter.
In another verse, Allah also negates fear and grief for such a person, saying: “Whoever follows My guidance will have no fear, nor will they grieve.” Following the guidance means affirming the truth of what it reports without opposing it with specious doubts, and obeying what it commands without resisting it because of personal desires.
“But whoever turns away from My reminder”—that is, My Book, through which every lofty matter is brought to mind—and abandons it out of aversion, or does something even graver by denying it and disbelieving in it, “will have a constricted life.” That is, his recompense will be that We make his life narrow and arduous, and such a condition can only be a punishment.
This constricted life has been interpreted as the punishment of the grave: his grave will be constricted around him, he will be confined within it and punished as recompense for turning away from the reminder of his Lord. This is one of the verses proving the punishment of the grave. The second is the saying of Allah Most High: “If only you could see when the wrongdoers are in the throes of death and the angels stretch forth their hands”—to the end of the verse. The third is His saying: “We shall certainly make them taste the lesser punishment before the greater punishment.” The fourth is His statement concerning Pharaoh’s people: “They are exposed to the Fire morning and evening”—to the end of the verse.
What prompted those among the early generations who interpreted it solely as the punishment of the grave to restrict it to that meaning—and Allah knows best—was the end of the verse, ⦗516⦘ where Allah mentions the punishment of the Day of Resurrection. Other commentators hold that the constricted life applies generally to this world—through the worries, sorrows and pains that afflict one who turns away from the reminder of his Lord and constitute an immediate punishment—as well as to the intermediate realm and the Hereafter. This is because the expression “a constricted life” is unrestricted and unqualified.
“And We will raise him”—that is, the one who turns away from the reminder of his Lord—“blind on the Day of Resurrection,” meaning physically blind, according to the correct interpretation. Allah Most High likewise says: “We will gather them on the Day of Resurrection upon their faces—blind, mute and deaf.”
Humiliated, questioning, anguished and distressed by this condition, he will say: “My Lord, why have You raised me blind when I was”—in the worldly abode—“able to see?” What, then, brought me to this hideous state?