(23–26) “Have you considered the one who has taken his own desire as his god, whom Allah has knowingly caused to stray, whose hearing and heart He has sealed, and over whose sight He has placed a veil? Who, then, can guide him once Allah has led him astray? Will you not take heed? * They say, ‘There is nothing but our life in this world: we die and we live, and nothing destroys us except time.’ Yet they have no knowledge of that; they merely speculate. * When Our clear verses are recited to them, their only argument is to say, ‘Bring back our forefathers, if you are truthful.’ * Say, ‘Allah gives you life, then causes you to die, and then will gather you for the Day of Resurrection, about which there is no doubt. Yet most people do not know.’”
Allah Most High says: “Have you considered” the misguided man “who has taken his own desire as his god”? Whatever he desires, he pursues, regardless of whether it pleases Allah or incurs His wrath. “Whom Allah has knowingly caused to stray”—on the basis of Allah Most High’s knowledge that he is unfit for guidance and would not become pure through it. “Whose hearing He has sealed,” so that he cannot hear anything that benefits him, “and his heart,” so that he cannot comprehend goodness; “and over whose sight He has placed a veil” that prevents him from seeing the truth. “Who, then, can guide him once Allah has led him astray?” That is, no one can guide him after Allah has closed the doors of guidance to him and opened the doors of error. Allah did not wrong him; rather, he wronged himself and brought about the withholding of Allah’s mercy from him. “Will you not take heed” of what benefits you, so that you follow it, and of what harms you, so that you avoid it?
“They say”—that is, those who deny the Resurrection—“There is nothing but our life in this world: we die and we live, and nothing destroys us except time.” That is, they claim that life is merely a recurring cycle following the pattern of night and day: some people die and others live, while whoever dies will neither return to Allah nor be recompensed for his deeds.
What they say proceeds from no knowledge: “They merely speculate.” Thus, without any evidence or proof leading them to this conclusion, they denied the Resurrection and accused the truthful messengers of lying.
These are nothing more than conjectures and notions of improbability, devoid of truth. Allah Most High therefore says: “When Our clear verses are recited to them, their only argument is to say, ‘Bring back our forefathers, if you are truthful.’” This was brazen insolence toward Allah, ⦗778⦘ for they made this demand and alleged that the truthfulness of Allah’s messengers depended upon bringing back their forefathers. Even if the messengers brought them every sign, they would not believe unless the messengers complied with their demand. Yet they were lying in what they said; their only aim was to repel the messengers’ call, not to establish the truth. Allah Most High says: “Say, ‘Allah gives you life, then causes you to die, and then will gather you for the Day of Resurrection, about which there is no doubt. Yet most people do not know.’” For had knowledge of the Last Day reached their hearts, they would have performed deeds for it and prepared themselves for it.