the case in which the passage states that, after death, man is reduced to the lowest of the low, except for the believer who does righteous deeds. This conveys that Allah will judge His servants after death, honouring the believers and humiliating the disbelievers.
Moreover, He, glorified be He, has affirmed this with solemn oaths: by the fig, the olive, Mount Sinai, and this secure city. These are the places from which Muhammad, the Messiah, and Moses came, and where Allah sent these messengers as bearers of glad tidings and warnings. Such an oath would not concern mere senescence, which everyone knows, but rather unseen matters that are confirmed by oaths. For Allah’s oaths concern tidings of the unseen.
The very subject by which the oath is sworn—the sending of these messengers—confirms what the oath affirms: reward and punishment after death, since the messengers conveyed this. It also encompasses recompense in this world, such as Allah’s destruction of those disbelievers whom He destroyed. Through their destruction in this world, He reduced them to the lowest of the low. This also draws attention to the loss of blessings when sins are committed, as in the case of someone brought low in this world as recompense for his sins.