The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 51
PT. 11 YŪNUS CH. 10 وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ كَاَنْ لم يبولا And on the day when He. 46 shall gather them together, "it سَاعَةً مِّنَ النَّهَارِ يَتَعَارَفُونَ بَيْنَهُمُ will appear to them as though they had not tarried in the world قَدْ خَسِرَ الَّذِيْنَ كَذَّبُوا بِلِقَاءِ اللهِ save for an hour of a day. They وَمَا كَانُوا مُهْتَدِينَ will recognize one another. "Losers indeed are those who deny the meeting with Allah and would not follow guidance. 1321 وَامَّا نُرِيَنَّكَ بَعْضَ الَّذِي نَعِدُهُمْ أَو And if We show thee in thy. 47 lifetime the fulfilment of some نَتَوَفَّيَنَّكَ فَإِلَيْنَا مَرْجِعُهُمْ ثُمَّ اللهُ شَهِيدٌ of the things with which We have threatened them, thou wilt "30:56; 46:36. 6:32; 30:9; 32:11. 13:41; 40:78. supposition by expressly stating that God never acts unjustly towards His creatures. On the contrary, He affords them all possible opportunities to accept the truth. 1321. Commentary: Disbelievers have been several times spoken of in the Quran as having stayed in the world only for an hour of a day. In all such verses it is as not the actual time of their staying in the world that is meant. It is only their being engrossed in worldly affairs and idle pursuits that is implied. The day is primarily meant for work and, inasmuch disbelievers spend most of their time in earning the paltry goods of the world or pass their time in hunting after enjoyment and do not make any effort to win the pleasure of God, it may be rightly said of them that they have lived in the world only for a day, even though they may have actually 1259 lived for thousands of years, for they do not benefit by their lives and do not put their days to the right use for which they are meant. If it had been meant to give the actual period of time for which disbelievers stayed on earth, there was no need of specifying the time of the day, for time can be measured by night also. The words, who deny the meeting with Allah, supply the reason why disbelievers pass their life in negligence. It was due to their lack of faith in meeting with God, which indeed is a great incentive to good works. Both those who obey through fear and those who obey from motives of love are prompted to do good works because they know that one day they will stand before God when they will have to render an account of their deeds. When this faith is wanting, negligence is the natural consequence.