(70) “Leave those who have made their religion play and amusement and have been deluded by worldly life. Remind with it, lest a soul be given over to ruin because of what it has earned. It will have no protector or intercessor besides Allah; and even if it offers every possible ransom, none will be accepted from it. Those are the ones given over to ruin because of what they earned. Theirs will be a drink of scalding water and a painful punishment because they used to disbelieve.”
What is required of the servants is that they devote their worship sincerely to Allah by worshiping Him alone, without partner, and doing all within their power to attain His pleasure and what He loves. This entails the heart’s turning to Allah and directing itself toward Him, and the servant’s striving being beneficial and earnest rather than frivolous, and undertaken sincerely for Allah’s sake rather than for show or renown. This is true religion, which properly deserves to be called religion.
As for anyone who claims to be upon the truth and to possess religion and piety, yet has made his religion play and amusement: his heart is distracted from loving and knowing Allah; he turns toward everything that harms him, amuses himself in his falsehood, and plays at it with his body—for every deed and effort undertaken for other than Allah is mere play. This is the person whom Allah Most High has commanded to be left alone and guarded against. One should not be deceived by him; rather, his condition should be examined and his actions guarded against. Nor should one be duped by his attempts to hinder one from anything that brings one nearer to Allah.
“Remind with it” means: use the Quran to remind the servants of what benefits them by commanding it, explaining it in detail, and commending it through mention of its admirable qualities; and of what harms them by forbidding it, detailing its various forms, and explaining the vile and abhorrent qualities it contains, which call for its abandonment. All this is so that no soul will be given over to ruin because of what it has earned. This means reminding the soul before the servant plunges into sins and dares to defy the All-Knower of the unseen, and before the soul persists in that dreadful course. Remind and admonish it so that it may be deterred and restrained, and desist from committing those sins.
His words, “It will have no protector or intercessor besides Allah,” mean: before [the time when] its sins encompass it, after which no created being—neither relative nor friend—will avail it. No one besides Allah will protect it, nor will any intercessor intercede for it. “Even if it offers every possible ransom” means: even if it seeks to redeem itself with every ransom, including an earthful of gold, “none will be accepted from it”; that is, it will neither be accepted nor prove of any benefit.
“Those”—the people described above—“are the ones given over to ruin,” meaning that they have been destroyed and made to despair of all good. This is “because of what they earned.” “Theirs will be a drink of scalding water,” meaning water whose heat has reached its utmost intensity, searing their faces and tearing their intestines apart, “and a painful punishment because they used to disbelieve.”