Tafseer Ibn Kathir of ASY SYU'ARAA' [90]

90. And Paradise will be brought near to those who had Taqwa. 91. And the (Hell) Fire will be placed in full view of the astray. 92. And it will be said to them: ”Where are those that you used to worship.'' 93. ”Instead of Allah Can they help you or help themselves'' 94. Then they will be thrown on their faces into it (the Fire), they and the astray. 95. And all of the hosts of Iblis together. 96. They will say while contending therein, 97. ”By Allah, we were truly in a manifest error, 98. ”When we held you as equals with the Lord of all that exists;'' 99. ”And none has brought us into error except the criminals.'' 100. ”Now we have no intercessors,'' 101. ”Nor a close friend.'' 102. ”(Alas!) If we only had a chance to return, we shall truly be among the believers!'' 103. Verily, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers. 104. And verily your Lord, He is truly the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.

(And Paradise will be brought near) means, it will be brought close to its people, adorned and decorated for them to behold it. Its people are the pious who preferred it to whatever was in this world, and strove for it in this world.

(And the (Hell) Fire will be placed in full view of the astray.) meaning, it will be shown to them and a neck will stretch forth from it, moaning and sighing, and their hearts will reach their throats. It will be said to its people by way of reproach and rebuke:

(Where are those that you used to worship instead of Allah Can they help you or help themselves) meaning, `the gods and idols whom you used to worship instead of Allah cannot help you today, and they cannot even protect themselves. You and they are fuel for Hell today, which you will surely enter.'

(Then they will be thrown on their faces into it (the Fire), they and the astray.) Mujahid said, ”This means, they will be hurled into it.'' Others said: ”They will be thrown on top of one another, the disbelievers and their leaders who called them to Shirk. ''

(And all of the hosts of Iblis together.) they will all be thrown into it.

(They will say while contending therein, ”By Allah, we were truly in a manifest error, when we held you as equals with the Lord of all that exists.'') The weak ones among them will say to their arrogant leaders: `Verily, we were following you; can you avail us anything from the Fire' Then they will realize that themselves are to blame and will say: a

(By Allah, we were truly in a manifest error, when we held you as equals with the Lord of all that exists.) meaning, `we obeyed your commands as we should have obeyed the commands of the Lord of the all that exits, and we worshipped you along with the Lord of all that exits.'

(And none has brought us into error except the criminals.) meaning, `nobody called us to do that except the evildoers.'

(Now we have no intercessors.) This is like the Ayah which tells us that they will say:

(...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). Similarly, in this Surah, Allah tells us that they will say:

(Now we have no intercessors, nor a close friend.)

((Alas!) If we only had a chance to return, we shall truly be among the believers!) They will wish that they could come back to this world so that they could do deeds of obedience to their Lord -- as they claim -- but Allah knows that if they were to come back to this world, they would only go back to doing forbidden things, and He knows that they are liars. Allah tells us in Surah Sad about how the people of Hell will argue with one another, as He says:

(Verily, that is the very truth -- the mutual dispute of the people of the Fire!) (38:64) Then He says:

(Verily, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers.) meaning, in the dispute of Ibrahim with his people and his proof of Tawhid there is a sign, i.e., clear evidence that there is no God but Allah.

(yet most of them are not believers. And verily, your Lord, He is truly the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.)