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qāla kam labithtum fī l-ʾarḍi ʿadada sinīna
He will say, ‘How many years did you remain on earth?’
— Ali Quli Qarai
23Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنونVerse 112 of 118
The Believers23. Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنون
Al Mu’minūn
The Believers
MeccanVerse 112 of 118
23Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنونVerse 112 of 118
The Believers
He will say, ‘How many years did you remain on earth?’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Mu’minun - Verses 112-114
112. “He will say: ‘How many years did you tarry in the earth?’”
113. “They will say: ‘We tarried but a day or part of a day; but ask those who keep account’.”
114. “He will say: ‘You tarried but a little if you had only known’.”
It is very unfortunate that most of mankind buy Hell and eternal punishment in exchange for the fleeting pleasures and comforts of this world. In view of the fact that previous verses referred to a part of the painful chastisement of the, people of Hell, these verses talk about their other kinds of mental punishments in the form of a Divine reproach. At first, it says:
“He will say: ‘How many years did you tarry in the earth?’”
The Arabic word /ard/ used in these verses shows that the purpose of this question is to compare the duration they had lived in this world with the higher reality of duration in the Hereafter. This view would render unlikely the opinion of some commentators that the question refers to the duration of their stay in the intermediate world, although there is some little evidence for this notion in other verses. An entire lifetime in this transient world would amount to no more than a day, or a part of a day, when compared to the eternality of the rewards and punishments in the Hereafter:
“They will say: 'We tarried but a day or part of a day...”
In fact, the long life-times in this world comparing the life in Hereafter, where not only the blessings of it are eternal but also the punishments of it are infinite, seem as some fleeting moments. Then, as an emphasis on their own saying, or in order to deliver a more accurate answer, they say:
“...but ask those who keep account’.”
Perhaps, the purpose of ‘those who keep account’ is the same angels that carefully count and record every instant of our lives and the deeds done in them, because they know the account of these things better than others. To affirm the new sense of time they are experiencing and to reproach them, the Qur’an says:
“He will say: ‘You tarried but a little if you had only known’.”
On the Day of Resurrection, indeed, they will be aware that life in the world in comparison to life in the Hereafter lasts only a day or less, but when they were in this world their hearts and minds were sealed with negligence and arrogance so they behaved as if the world was eternal and considered the Hereafter as a figment of the imagination and an empty promise. That is why the Qur’an implies that if they had known this reality that they understood in Hereafter, they would have recognized it in the world.