⦗23⦘ “Those who disbelieve in Allah’s signs and in meeting Him—it is they who have despaired of My mercy, and they will have a painful punishment.”

Allah Most High informs us who are bereft of good and overtaken by evil: those who disbelieve in Him, His messengers, and what they brought, and who deny that they will meet Allah. They recognize nothing beyond this worldly life, and so they have ventured into polytheism and sin because their hearts contain nothing that makes them fear the consequences. Hence Allah Most High says, “It is they who have despaired of My mercy.” That is, they know of not a single means by which they might attain mercy. Had they hoped for His mercy, they would have performed deeds to attain it.

Despairing of Allah’s mercy is among the gravest dangers. It is of two kinds: the despair of the disbelievers, who abandon every means that might bring them nearer to it; and the despair of sinners, whose many offenses fill them with desolation, take possession of their hearts, and give rise to despair within them.

“And they will have a painful punishment”—that is, a punishment that inflicts pain and anguish. These verses appear to be a parenthetical passage interposed between Abraham’s words to his people and their response to him. Allah knows best.