Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AL MU'MINUUN [99]

99. Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: ”My Lord! Send me back,'' 100. ”So that I may do good in that which I have left behind!'' No! (Kalla) It is but a word that he speaks; and in front of them is Barzakh until the Day when they will be resurrected.

(”My Lord! Send me back, so that I may do good in that which I have left behind!'' No!) This is like the Ayat:

(And spend of that with which We have provided you before death comes to one of you,) until His saying:

(And Allah is All-Aware of what you do) ï´¿63:10-11ï´¾

upto His saying; (that you would not leave (the world for the Hereafter).) ï´¿14:44ï´¾ And His saying:

(On the Day the event is finally fulfilled, those who neglected it before will say: ”Verily, the Messengers of our Lord did come with the truth, now are there any intercessors for us that they might intercede on our behalf Or could we be sent back so that we might do deeds other than those deeds which we used to do'') ﴿7:53﴾ And:

(And if you only could see when the criminals shall hang their heads before their Lord (saying): ”Our Lord! We have now seen and heard, so send us back, that we will do righteous good deeds. Verily, we now believe with certainty.'') ﴿32:12﴾ And;

(If you could but see when they will be held over the (Hell) Fire! They will say: ”Would that we were but sent back! Then we would not deny the Ayat of our Lord. ..'') until His saying;

(And indeed they are liars.) ï´¿6:27-28ï´¾

(And you will see the wrongdoers, when they behold the torment, they will say: ”Is there any way of return'') ﴿42:44﴾

(They will say: ”Our Lord! You have made us to die twice, and You have given us life twice! Now we confess our sins, then is there any way to get out'') ﴿40:11﴾ and the Ayah after it:

(Therein they will cry: ”Our Lord! Bring us out, we shall do righteous good deeds, not what we used to do.'' (Allah will reply:) ”Did We not give you lives long enough, so that whosoever would receive admonition could receive it And the warner came to you. So taste you (the evil of your deeds). For the wrongdoers there is no helper.'') ﴿35:37﴾ Allah says that they will ask to go back, when death approaches, on the Day of Resurrection, when they are gathered for judgment before the Compeller (Allah) and when they are in the agonies of the punishment of Hell, but their prayer will not be answered. Here Allah says:

(No! It is but a word that he speaks;) The word Kalla (No!) is a word that is used to rebuke, and the meaning is: ”No, We will not respond to what he asks for and We will not accept it from him.''

(It is but a word that he speaks) refers to his asking to go back so that he can do righteous deeds; this is just talk on his part, it would not be accompanied by any action. If he were to go back, he would not do any righteous good deeds, he is merely lying, as Allah says:

(But if they were returned, they would certainly revert to that which they were forbidden. And indeed they are liars) ﴿6:28﴾. Qatadah said: ”By Allah, he will not wish to go back to his family and tribe, or to accumulate more of the things of this world or satisfy his desires, but he will wish that he could go back to do acts of obedience to Allah. May Allah have mercy on a man who does that which the disbeliever will wish he had done when he sees the punishment of Hell.''

(and in front of them is Barzakh until the Day when they will be resurrected.) Abu Salih and others said that:

(and in front of them) means before them. Mujahid said, Al-Barzakh is a barrier between this world and the Hereafter. Muhammad bin Ka`b said, ”Al-Barzakh is what is between this world and the Hereafter, neither they are the people of this world, eating and drinking, nor are they with the people of the Hereafter, being rewarded or punished for their deeds.'' Abu Sakhr said, ”Al-Barzakh refers to the graves. They are neither in this world nor the Hereafter, and they will stay there until the Day of Resurrection.''

(and in front of them is Barzakh). In these words is a threat to those wrongdoers at the time of death, of the punishment of Barzakh. This is similar to the Ayat:

(In front of them there is Hell) ï´¿45:10ï´¾.

(and in front of him will be a great torment) ï´¿14: 17ï´¾.

(until the Day when they will be resurrected). means, he will be punished continually until the Day of Resurrection, as it says in the Hadith:

(He will continue to be punished in it.) meaning, in the earth.