Tafsir

Woe to the Disbelievers!`Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas commented on the Ayah:يحَسْرَةً عَلَى الْعِبَادِ(Alas for mankind!), this means, woe to mankind! Qatadah said:يحَسْرَةً عَلَى الْعِبَادِ(Alas for mankind!) means, "Alas for mankind, who have neglected the command of Allah." The meaning is that they will feel regret and sorrow on the Day of Resurrection. When they see the punishment with their own eyes; they will regret how they disbelieved the Messengers of Allah and went against the commands of Allah, for they used to disbelieve in them in this world.مَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلاَّ كَانُواْ بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ(There never came a Messenger to them but they used to mock at him.) means, they disbelieved him and made fun of him, and rejected the message of truth with which he had been sent.

The Refutation of the Belief in the Transmigration of Souls

Then Allah says:أَلَمْ يَرَوْاْ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُمْ مِّنَ الْقُرُونِ أَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ لاَ يَرْجِعُونَ (Do they not see how many of the generations We have destroyed before them Verily, they will not return to them.) meaning, `do you not learn a lesson from those whom Allah destroyed before you of those who disbelieved in the Messengers They came to this world only once, and will not return to it.' It is not as many of those ignorant and immoral people claim thatإِنْ هِىَ إِلاَّ حَيَاتُنَا الدُّنْيَا نَمُوتُ وَنَحْيَا("There is nothing but our life of this world! We die and we live!") (23:37). This was the belief in the cycle of reincarnation; in their ignorance they believed that they would come back to this world as they had been before.

But Allah refuted their false belief and said:أَلَمْ يَرَوْاْ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُمْ مِّنَ الْقُرُونِ أَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ لاَ يَرْجِعُونَ (Do they not see how many of the generations We have destroyed before them Verily, they will not return to them.) Allah's saying:وَإِن كُلٌّ لَّمَّا جَمِيعٌ لَّدَيْنَا مُحْضَرُونَ (And surely, all -- everyone of them will be brought before Us.) means, all of the past nations and those that are yet to come, will be gathered and brought to account before Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, on the Day of Judgement, and they will be requitted according to their good and evil deeds. This is like the Ayah:وَإِنَّ كُـلاًّ لَّمَّا لَيُوَفِّيَنَّهُمْ رَبُّكَ أَعْمَالَهُمْ(And verily, to each of them your Lord will repay their works in full.) (11:111).

In verses 28 and 29, it was said: وَمَا أَنزَلْنَا عَلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ مِن بَعْدِهِ مِن جُندٍ مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ وَمَا كُنَّا مُنزِلِينَ إِن كَانَتْ إِلَّا صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً فَإِذَا هُمْ خَامِدُونَ " (And We did not send down to his people any army from the heavens after him, nor were We (in need ) to send down. It was no more than a single Cry, and in no time they were extinguished.)Mentioned here is the Divine punishment that descended upon the people who had rejected the messengers and had beaten up Habib Najjar until he died a martyr. And regarding the sending of punishment, it was said that Allah did not have to send an army of angels to seize these people - nor was it the way of Allah to send such an army, because just a single angel of Allah is enough to destroy the greatest, mightiest and the bravest of nations. Why would he need to send an army of angels? After that, given there was a crisp description of the punishment coming upon them - it was just a single shrill Cry of the angel, and there they were, all extinguished under its sonic sweep.

It appears in Hadith narrations that the archangel, Jibra'il al-'amin (علیہ السلام) ، holding the two sides of the city gate, came up with a hard and horrendous Cry, the shock from which proved unbearable for any living soul, and they all succumbed to sudden death.

The state of their dying has been expressed through the word: خَامِدُونَ khamidun) by the Qur'an. The words: خَامِدا (khamada) and خُمُود (khumud) are used to mean the extinguishing or dying of fire. The life of the living depends on energy. When this energy is not there, what remains is death. So, 'khamidun' means extinguished, gone extinct, put off.

يا حسرة العباد وندامتهم يوم القيامة إذا عاينوا العذاب، ما يأتيهم من رسول من الله تعالى إلا كانوا به يستهزئون ويسخرون.

قال علي بن أبي طلحة ، عن ابن عباس في قوله : ( ياحسرة على العباد ) أي : يا ويل العباد .وقال قتادة : ( ياحسرة على العباد ) : أي يا حسرة العباد على أنفسها ، على ما ضيعت من أمر الله ، فرطت في جنب الله . قال : وفي بعض القراءة : " يا حسرة العباد على أنفسها " .ومعنى هذا : يا حسرتهم وندامتهم يوم القيامة إذا عاينوا العذاب ، كيف كذبوا رسل الله ، وخالفوا أمر الله ، فإنهم كانوا في الدار الدنيا المكذبون منهم .( ما يأتيهم من رسول إلا كانوا به يستهزئون ) أي : يكذبونه ويستهزئون به ، ويجحدون ما أرسل به من الحق .