(36–37) “Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder people from the way of Allah. They will continue to spend it, but then it will become a source of bitter regret for them, and thereafter they will be defeated. Those who disbelieve will be gathered into Hell, so that Allah may distinguish the wicked from the good, place the wicked one upon another, heap them all together, and cast them into Hell. It is they who are the losers.”

Allah Most High explains the polytheists’ hostility, scheming and plotting, their brazen opposition to Allah and His Messenger, and their efforts to extinguish His light and suppress His word. Yet the evil consequences of their plotting will recoil upon them, for evil plots engulf none but those who devise them. He says: “Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder people from the way of Allah” ⦗321⦘—that is, to abolish the truth and support falsehood, to eliminate the worship of the Most Merciful alone and establish the religion of idol worship.

“They will continue to spend it”—that is, they will indeed make these expenditures and regard them lightly because of their adherence to falsehood and their intense hatred of the truth. Yet it will become a source of bitter regret for them—that is, remorse, disgrace and humiliation—and they will be defeated. Their wealth and all they had hoped to achieve will be lost, and in the Hereafter they will suffer the severest punishment. Hence He says: “Those who disbelieve will be gathered into Hell”—that is, they will be assembled there to taste its punishment. This is because it is the abode of wickedness and the wicked. Allah Most High wills to distinguish the wicked from the good, separating each and assigning it to its proper abode. He will place the wicked one upon another—wicked deeds, wealth and persons alike—“heap them all together, and cast them into Hell. It is they who are the losers”: those who will lose themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection. Truly, that is the manifest loss.