and their faith could not benefit them once they had seen Our might—the immutable way of Allah that has already run its course among His servants—and at that very moment the disbelievers were ruined. 1
Allah, Exalted is He, also says, “So are they waiting for anything but the Hour to come upon them suddenly? Its portents have already appeared; so how will their reminder benefit them once it has come?” 2 End quote.
He (Ibn Kathīr) further states in his commentary on the words, “it had never believed before” 3: “Meaning that if a disbeliever tries to profess faith on that Day, it will not be accepted from him. As for one who had already been a believer, then if his deeds were righteous he will enjoy tremendous good; but if he had not been upright and only then seeks to repent, his repentance will not be accepted, as numerous ḥadiths indicate. Upon this understanding fall the words of Allah, ‘or earned some good through its faith’ 4—that no righteous work will be accepted from him if he had not previously been acting upon it.” End quote.
Al-Baghawī says: “The verse, ‘On the Day when some of your Lord’s signs come, no soul will profit from its faith if it had not believed before’ 5, means that faith will not benefit them once the sign appears that forces them to believe. And His words, ‘or earned some good through its faith’ 6, mean that neither the faith of a disbeliever nor the repentance of an open sinner will then be accepted.” End quote.
Al-Qurṭubī—may Allah have mercy on him—writes in his Tafsīr: “The scholars say that a person’s faith will not benefit him when the sun rises from the west because a terror will have seized their hearts that extinguishes every craving of the self and drains every bodily power. Convinced that the Resurrection is imminent, all people will resemble someone on his deathbed: every motive to commit sin has vanished and their limbs can no longer respond. Whoever repents in such a state will find his repentance rejected, just as the repentance of one in the throes of death is rejected. The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Allah accepts His servant’s repentance so long as his soul has not begun to rattle in his throat,’ meaning until it reaches the top of the throat. That is the moment of direct witnessing, when one is shown his seat in Paradise or his seat in Hell. The one who beholds the sun rising from the west is in the same condition.”