al-Ḥāqqah

وَأَمَّا مَنْ أُوتِيَ كِتَابَهُ بِشِمَالِهِ فَيَقُولُ يَا لَيْتَنِي لَمْ أُوتَ كِتَابِيَهْ

وَلَمْ أَدْرِ مَا حِسَابِيَهْ

يَا لَيْتَهَا كَانَتِ الْقَاضِيَةَ

مَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنِّي مَالِيَهْ

هَلَكَ عَنِّي سُلْطَانِيَهْ

25. But as for him who shall be given his Record in his left hand, he shall say: "I wish that I had not been given my Record!
26. And that I had never known how my Account is!
27. "Would that it had been my end!
28. "My wealth has not availed me;
29. "My power has gone from me!"

The preceding blessed Verses treated of the people of the right hand (ashab yamin) whose record of deeds shall be given to their right hands proudly calling the people on the Day of Resurrection, requesting them to read their records, and finding their abode in the everlasting Paradise. Nonetheless, the blessed Verses in question treat of their opposites, i.e. the people of the left hand. A comparison between the two groups may shed further light on their situations.

The blessed Verse 25 is saying that one whose record of deeds will be given in his left hand will say:

"I wish I had never been given my record of deeds!"

According to the following blessed Verse, he will say:

"I wish I had never been aware of my reckoning."

It is in the blessed Verse 27 that he says:

He intends to say that thus he could put an end to his dire fate. Such person, upon witnessing that all his past vices are disclosed, cries regretfully on that Day of Disclosure (yawm al-buruz), the Day of Uncovering (yawm al-thuhur) and wishes that he could totally sever his ties with his vicious past. He wishes that God Almighty would put an end to his miserable life and thereby deliver him from such ignominious fate. The same theme is also reflected elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an¹⁰:

According to the blessed Verses 28 and 29, he will say:

In short, neither wealth nor high positions shall be of any avail on that Day, since such miserable creatures shall stand with utmost ignominy and disgrace before Divine Just Tribunal. There shall be no source of aspiration, nor any means of deliverance from such dire fate. The Arabic noun sultan used in the blessed Verse 29 is taken by some Qur’an exegetes in the sense of an argument leading to victory, namely the people of the left hand shall not be able to produce an argument to justify their past deeds before Divine Threshold.

Some exegetes also maintain that sovereignty and rule are not intended by sultan herein, since all the people who set foot in Hell were not rulers and sultans, but the word is indicative of checking one’s self and having control over one’s life. At any rate, the blessed Verses in question serve as lessons for those relying on wealth and positions despite having been entangled with vanity, neglect, and sins.

O Lord, do not chastise us for our deeds!