al-Qiyāmah

بَلْ يُرِيدُ الْإِنسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ

يَسْأَلُ أَيَّانَ يَوْمُ الْقِيَامَةِ

5. Nay! Man [entertains no doubts as to Resurrection, but he] desires to be free to continue committing sins all his life.
6. He asks: "When will be this Day of Resurrection?"

The blessed Verse makes a reference to one of the true reasons lying behind belying Resurrection, saying that man does not entertain doubts concerning Divine Omnipotence to assemble the bones and raising the dead, but by his belying he aims at continuing to commit sins all his life. He desires to have absolute freedom to engage himself in concupiscent desires, sins, and wrong doing. Thus, he aims to falsely satisfy his conscience and fail to regard himself answerable to Divine Creation, since believing in Resurrection, raising the dead, and Divine Tribunal of Justice serve as a great impediment to any form of disobedience and sin. He intends to enjoy absolute freedom to destroy such barrier and freely commit any sin.

It is not restricted to the people living in the past, but denial of Resurrection serves as a pretext for enjoying absolute freedom to commit sins, evading obligations and trespassing Divine Bounds, but the true reasons lying behind Origin and Resurrection are quite evident. Regarding the exegesis of the blessed Verse in question, it is mentioned in ‘Ali ibn Ibrahim’s Qur’an exegesis that reference is herein made to one who accords precedence to committing sins and procrastinates when he is supposed to repent from his sins.

Some Qur’an exegetes also maintain that the nominal plural form fujur herein implies belying, such that the blessed Verse is saying that man desires to belie the inevitable Day of Resurrection. Nonetheless, the former exegesis sounds to be further befitting. The following Verse adds that he belier inquires about the time of the Day of Resurrection. By his rhetorical question, he intends to evade his obligations and pave the ground for committing further sins. It is worthy of note, however, that inquiring about the time of Resurrection does not imply that they believed in the Day of Resurrection and they inquired about the time of its arrival, but the truth is that such rhetorical question served as the prelude to their denial of the Day of Resurrection.