“He will say, ‘Thus did Our signs come to you, but you forgot them; and so today you will be forgotten. * Thus do We recompense whoever transgresses and does not believe in the signs of his Lord. And the punishment of the Hereafter is surely more severe and more lasting.’”

“He will say, ‘Thus did Our signs come to you, but you forgot them’” by turning away from them, “and so today you will be forgotten”—that is, left in the punishment. He will thus be answered that this is precisely what he himself did, for recompense corresponds to the nature of the deed. Just as he was blind to the remembrance of his Lord, turned away from it, forgot it, and neglected his own share of it, Allah will blind his sight in the Hereafter. He will be gathered and driven to the Fire blind, deaf and mute; Allah will turn away from him and abandon him to the punishment.

“Thus”—that is, with this recompense—“do We recompense whoever transgresses” by overstepping the limits, committing forbidden acts and exceeding what he was permitted, “and does not believe in the signs of his Lord,” which clearly and explicitly establish all that faith requires. Allah did not wrong him or impose punishment where it was undeserved. Rather, the cause was his own transgression and lack of faith.

“And the punishment of the Hereafter is surely more severe”—many times more severe than the punishment of this world—“and more lasting,” because it never ends, unlike the punishment of this world, which comes to an end. One must therefore fear the punishment of the Hereafter and guard against it.