The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 546
CH. 7 AL-A'RĀF PT. 8 وَإِذَا صُرِفَتْ أَبْصَارُهُمْ تِلْقَاء And when their eyes are. 48 أَصْحُبِ النَّارِ قَالُوا رَبَّنَا لَا تَجْعَلْنَا مَعَ ,Fire, they will say, "Our Lord الْقَوْمِ الظَّلِمِينَ turned towards the people of the put us not with the unjust people. '947 & R. 6. وَنَادَى أَصْحَبُ الْأَعْرَافِ رِجَالًا And the occupants of the. 49 elevated places will call out to يَعْرِفُونَهُمْ بِيْمُهُمْ قَالُوا مَا أَغْنى men whom they will know by their marks, and say, "Your multitude availed you not, nor your arrogance. 948 b6c عَنْكُمْ جَمْعُكُمْ وَمَا كُنْتُمْ تَسْتَكْبِرُونَ اهَؤُلَاءِ الَّذِيْنَ أَقْسَمْتُمْ لَا يَنَالُهُمُ اللهُ Are these the men about. 50 بِرَحْمَةٍ اُدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ لَا خَوْفٌ whom you swore that Allah would not extend mercy to them? To them it has been said, 947. Commentary: "23:95. 23:111. The passive voice used in the words, when their eyes are turned, shows that the eyes of the men on the elevated places will be made to turn towards the inmates of Hell by some higher power, i. e. God, with some definite purpose which was to provide occasion for making certain announcements. The last sentence of the verse spoken by the men on the elevated places, i. e. Our Lord, put us not with the unjust people, does not show that those, who will utter these words, will yet be in a state of uncertainty and that their case will not yet have been decided. They are mere words of piety or of God-fearingness that 986 b even a Prophet would utter when he sees an object of God's punishment. 948. Commentary: The occupants of the elevated places, i. e. the Prophets, shall call out to certain persons from among the people, to whom they had been sent and whom they will recognize by their marks, telling them to see the end of their opposition. The particle (not) may also be taken in the interrogative sense, meaning "what". In that case the sentence would be rendered as, "of what avail was your multitude to you and your arrogance?" In this sense the sentence would constitute a very pointed rebuke by the Prophets to the dwellers of Hell.