Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 40 Ghafir, Ayat 10-12

اِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ كَفَرُوۡا يُنَادَوۡنَ لَمَقۡتُ اللّٰهِ اَكۡبَرُ مِنۡ مَّقۡتِكُمۡ اَنۡفُسَكُمۡ اِذۡ تُدۡعَوۡنَ اِلَى الۡاِيۡمَانِ فَتَكۡفُرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿40:10﴾ قَالُوۡا رَبَّنَاۤ اَمَتَّنَا اثۡنَتَيۡنِ وَاَحۡيَيۡتَنَا اثۡنَتَيۡنِ فَاعۡتَرَفۡنَا بِذُنُوۡبِنَا فَهَلۡ اِلٰى خُرُوۡجٍ مِّنۡ سَبِيۡلٍ‏ ﴿40:11﴾ ذٰ لِكُمۡ بِاَنَّهٗۤ اِذَا دُعِىَ اللّٰهُ وَحۡدَهٗ كَفَرۡتُمۡ ۚ وَاِنۡ يُّشۡرَكۡ بِهٖ تُؤۡمِنُوۡا ؕ فَالۡحُكۡمُ لِلّٰهِ الۡعَلِىِّ الۡكَبِيۡرِ‏ ﴿40:12﴾

(40:10) It will be announced to the unbelievers (on the Day of Resurrection): “Surely Allah's abhorrence of you when you were called to believe but you disbelieved was greater than is your abhorrence of yourselves today.”14 (40:11) They will say: “Our Lord, twice have You caused us to die and twice have You given us life.15 We have now confessed our sins.16 Is there, then, any way out?”17 (40:12) (They will be told): “(The cause of your present state is that) when Allah alone was invoked, you disbelieved; and when others instead of Him were invoked, you believed. Today all judgement lies with Allah, the Most High, the All-Great.”18

Notes

14. That is, when the disbelievers will see on the Day of Resurrection that they had committed a grave folly by founding their entire life-work on polytheism and atheism, denial of the Hereafter and opposition to the Messenger. And due to that folly they were now doomed to that evil end. They will bite at their fingers and will curse themselves fretfully. At that time the angels will proclaim to them: Today you are being angry with yourselves, but in the world when the Prophets of Allah and the other good people invited you to the right path to save you from this evil end, you turned down their invitation, Allah’s wrath against you then was even greater.

15. This same thing has already been mentioned in (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 28). It implies this: How can you disbelieve in Allah? He granted you life when you were lifeless; then He will give you death and then will again raise you back to life. The disbelievers do not deny the first three of these conditions, because they are perceptible and therefore un-deniable. But they refuse to accept the occurrence of the fourth condition, for they have not yet experienced it, and only the Prophets have foretold it. On the Day of Resurrection when the fourth condition will also be practically experienced by them, then they will acknowledge that the same which the Prophets had foretold had actually happened.

16. That is, we confess that we made a grave mistake when we denied this after life; our life was filled with sins when we followed falsehood.

17. That is, is there any possibility now that our confession of sins be accepted and we be rescued from this state of torment in which we have been seized?

18. That is, the Judgment now rests entirely with that God alone, Whose Godhead you did not acknowledge, and those others whom you persistently regarded as associates and partners in the powers of Godhead, have no share whatsoever in the judgment. (For a full understanding of this point, please see (verse 45 of Surah Az-Zumar and its E.N. 64). This sentence by itself gives the meaning that there would be no possibility of any way out for the disbelievers from the state of torment, for they did not only deny the Hereafter but they had aversion to their Creator and Sustainer, and they were not satisfied until they had associated others with Him.