(36–37) “Those who disbelieve will have the Fire of Hell. No death will be decreed for them so that they might die, nor will any of its torment be lightened for them. Thus do We recompense every obstinate disbeliever. * There they will cry out, ‘Our Lord, take us out, and we will do righteous deeds unlike those we used to do.’ Did We not grant you lives long enough for whoever would take heed to take heed? And the warner came to you. So taste the punishment! The wrongdoers will have no helper.”
After mentioning the condition and bliss of the people of Paradise, Allah Most High mentions the condition and punishment of the people of the Fire. He says: “Those who disbelieve”—that is, they rejected the signs brought to them by their messengers and denied that they would meet their Lord.
“They will have the Fire of Hell,” where they will suffer the severest torment and the harshest punishment. “No death will be decreed for them so that they might die” and thus find relief, “nor will any of its torment be lightened for them.” The severity and enormity of the torment will remain upon them continually, at every instant and every moment.
“Thus do We recompense every obstinate disbeliever. There they will cry out”—that is, they will scream, call loudly to one another, and plead for help, saying: “Our Lord, take us out, and we will do righteous deeds unlike those we used to do.” They will thus acknowledge their sin and recognize that Allah treated them justly. Yet they will ask to be returned when the time for that has passed. It will therefore be said to them: “Did We not grant you lives long enough”—that is, a span of time and a lifetime—“for whoever would take heed to take heed?” In other words, anyone who wished to take heed had ample opportunity to act. We granted you enjoyment in this world, lavished provision upon you, provided you with the means of comfort, prolonged (1) your lives, sent Our signs to you in succession, brought warnings to you, and tested you with prosperity and adversity so that you might turn to Us in repentance and return to Us. Yet no warning proved effective with you, nor did any admonition benefit you. We deferred your punishment until your appointed terms expired and your lives came to an end. Then you departed from the abode of opportunity in the worst of conditions and arrived at this abode—the abode of recompense for deeds—and now you ask to be returned?
Far from it! Far from it! The time for opportunity has passed. The Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful, is angry with you; the torment of the Fire has intensified against you; and the people of Paradise have forgotten you. Remain there forever and ever, humiliated in torment. Hence He says: “So taste the punishment! The wrongdoers will have no helper” to aid them by bringing them out of it or lightening its torment for them.