Ma'arif al-Qur'an
Mufti Muhammad ShafiIn the last verse (54), it was said: وَحِيلَ بَيْنَهُمْ وَبَيْنَ مَا يَشْتَهُونَ (And a barrier will be placed between them and that which they desire,) that is, they were not allowed to have it. This description could be true about the Day of Judgment in the sense that these people will be seeking salvation and Paradise but would fail to have it. Then, it could also apply to the time of death in the world, that is, they wished to have worldly wealth that was made to stay away from them by the barrier of death.
The word: اَشیَاع (ashya’) in: كَمَا فُعِلَ بِأَشْيَاعِهِم (as it will be done with the people of their kind who were before (them). They were in a perplexing doubt, is the plural form of: (shi'ah)? One who is a follower of someone and thinks alike is called a shi'ah or partisan of that person. The sense is that the punishment of having been deprived of what they wished to have was no other but a punishment that had already been given to people like them who indulged in doings their disbelief prompted them to do. The reason was that they were deep in doubt, that is, they did not believe in the prophethood of Sayyidna Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ nor did they have the certitude of and faith in the Qur'an being the Divine word. And Allah is Pure and High and He knows the best.
Alhamdulillah
The Commentary on
Surah Saba'Ends here