(99–100) “Until, when death comes to one of them, he says, ‘My Lord, send me back, so that I may do righteous deeds in what I left behind.’ No indeed! It is merely a word he utters, and before them stands a barrier until the Day they are resurrected.”

The Exalted informs us of the condition of the sinful wrongdoer when death comes to him: at that moment, when he sees his final destination and beholds the ugliness of his deeds, he is filled with regret and asks to be returned to this world—not to enjoy its pleasures or indulge its desires, but only so that he might say: “So that I may do righteous deeds in what I left behind”—that is, among the deeds he neglected and the duties toward Allah in which he fell short. “No indeed!” That is, he will neither be returned nor granted any respite, for Allah has decreed that they shall not return to it. “It is”—that is, his plea in which he wishes to return to this world—“merely a word he utters.” It is nothing more than words spoken by the tongue, bringing him nothing but grief and regret. Moreover, he is not sincere in what he says, for if he were returned, he would revert to what he had been forbidden to do.

“And before them stands a barrier until the Day they are resurrected.” That is, ahead of them lies a barrier separating two things. Here, it is the barrier between this world and the Hereafter. Within this barrier, the obedient enjoy bliss and the disobedient suffer punishment from the time of their death until the Day they are resurrected. Let them therefore make due provision for it and prepare themselves for it.