(35–40) “This is the Day when they will not speak, * nor will they be permitted to offer excuses. * Woe on that Day to the deniers! * This is the Day of Decision. We have gathered you and those of old. * So if you have any scheme, then scheme against Me. * Woe on that Day to the deniers!”

That is, on this great and terrible Day for the deniers, they will not speak because of their intense fear and dread. “Nor will they be permitted to offer excuses”—that is, their excuses will not be accepted, even if they offer them:

“On that Day, the excuses of the wrongdoers will be of no benefit to them, nor will they be allowed to make amends.”

“This is the Day of Decision. We have gathered you and those of old” so that We may decide between you and pass judgment among all creatures. “So if you have any scheme” by which you can escape My dominion and thereby be saved from My punishment, “then scheme against Me.” That is, you possess neither power nor authority, as Allah Most High says:

“O company of jinn and humankind! If you are able to pass beyond the confines of the heavens and the earth, then do so. But you cannot pass beyond them without authority.”

On that Day, the stratagems of the wrongdoers will fail, their plotting and scheming will come to nothing, and they will surrender to Allah’s punishment. The falsity of their denial will then become clear to them. “Woe on that Day to the deniers!”