(10–13) “Indeed, those who disbelieve—neither their wealth nor their children will avail them at all against Allah. It is they who will be the fuel of the Fire. * Their fate will be like that of Pharaoh’s people and those before them. They denied Our signs, so Allah seized them for their sins. Allah is severe in punishment. * Say to those who disbelieve, ‘You will be defeated and gathered into Hell—what a wretched resting place!’ * There was indeed a sign for you in the two groups that met: one fighting in the cause of Allah and the other unbelieving. They saw them with their own eyes to be twice their number. Allah strengthens with His aid whomever He wills. Surely in this is a lesson for people of insight.”
Allah Most High informs us that those who disbelieve in Him and His messengers, rejecting His religion and His Book, have deserved punishment and severe torment because of their disbelief and sins. Neither their wealth nor their children will avail them in any way. Although in this world they use these things to ward off the calamities that befall them, and say, “We have greater wealth and more children, and we will not be punished,” on the Day of Resurrection there will become apparent to them from Allah what they had never anticipated: “The evil consequences of what they earned will become apparent to them, and what they used to ridicule will engulf them.”
Neither children nor wealth hold any weight with Allah. What benefits a servant is only his faith in Allah and his righteous deeds, as Allah Most High says, “It is not your wealth or your children that bring you nearer to Us. But whoever believes and acts righteously—such people will receive a multiplied reward for what they did, and they will dwell securely in the lofty chambers.” Here Allah informs us that the disbelievers are the fuel of the Fire—that is, its firewood—remaining in it forever and ever. This state of affairs, in which wealth and children avail the disbelievers nothing, is Allah’s established way among the nations of the past.
This is what befell Pharaoh, those before him, and the defiant and tyrannical pharaohs who came after them—men possessed of wealth and armies. When they denied Allah’s signs, rejected what the messengers brought, and obstinately opposed the truth, Allah seized them for their sins, in justice rather than injustice. Allah is severe in punishment toward anyone who does what incurs punishment—namely, disbelief and sins in all their various kinds and degrees.
Allah Most High then says, “Say,” O Muhammad, “to those who disbelieve, ‘You will be defeated and gathered into Hell—what a wretched resting place!’” This contains an indication to the believers that they will attain victory and ascendancy, as well as a warning to the disbelievers. It came to pass just as Allah Most High had foretold: Allah granted the believers victory over their disbelieving enemies among the polytheists, Jews, and Christians. Allah Most High will continue to do this for His believing servants and troops until the Day of Resurrection. In this is a lesson and one of the Quran’s signs, plainly witnessed by the senses.
Allah Most High also informs us that, in addition to being defeated in this world, the disbelievers will be gathered and assembled on the Day of Resurrection in the abode of ruin. This is what they prepared for themselves. What a wretched resting place they prepared, and what a wretched recompense they will receive!