Surah Saba, Ayah 54

وَأُخِذُواْ مِن مَّكَانٍ قَرِيبٍ

(and they will be seized from a near place.) means, they will not even be given the slightest chance of escape, but they will be seized from the first instant. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: "When they come forth from their graves."

وَقَالُواْ ءَامَنَّا بِهِ

(And they will say: "We do believe (now);") means, on the Day of Resurrection, they will say, `we believe in Allah and His angels, Books and Messengers.' This is like the Ayah:

وَلَوْ تَرَى إِذِ الْمُجْرِمُونَ نَاكِسُواْ رُءُوسِهِمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ رَبَّنَآ أَبْصَرْنَا وَسَمِعْنَا فَارْجِعْنَا نَعْمَلْ صَـلِحاً إِنَّا مُوقِنُونَ

In 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

When an individual rejects the Truth in the present world, the result of doing so is not immediately apparent. This position emboldens him to reject the Truth; he does not consider the call for Truth worth giving serious attention to. He describes it with contempt and rejects it carelessly. But the day when the system of the present world collapses, the whole picture will change. He will come to know that this reality which he had ignored was the most important of all. The bubble of vanity will be pricked and he will start spontaneously appreciating and admitting the Truth, which he had considered unworthy of attention in the pre-death period. But, by then, the moment for this would have passed, and he will be told that acceptance at a time when realities were as yet invisible would have had value, whereas acceptance at a time when the truth is plainly visible has no value. This is the picture of the psychological condition of those who deny the truth. The Truth which was presented to them in this world was so powerful that they found themselves unable to reject it on the basis of reasoning. But, as this Truth fitted ill with their mental mould, they were not ready to accept it either. This ambivalent condition had pushed them into and kept them in a peculiar state of inner conflict, till the angel of death arrived and lifted the veil from their eyes, which they themselves should have removed but did not.