Tafsir of Surah Al-A'raf - Verse 49

مَآ أَغْنَى عَنكُمْ جَمْعُكُمْ

("Of what benefit to you was your gathering...") meaning, your great numbers,

وَمَا كُنتُمْ تَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

("...and your arrogance") This Ayah means, your great numbers and wealth did not save you from Allah's torment. Rather, you are dwelling in His torment and punishment. `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported from Ibn `Abbas,

أَهَـؤُلاءِ الَّذِينَ أَقْسَمْتُمْ لاَ يَنَالُهُمُ اللَّهُ بِرَحْمَةٍ

(Are they those, of whom you swore that Allah would never show them mercy) refers to the people of Al-A`raf who will be told when Allah decrees:

ادْخُلُواْ الْجَنَّةَ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلاَ أَنتُمْ تَحْزَنُونَ

((Behold! It has been said to them): "Enter Paradise, no fear shall be on you, nor shall you grieve.")

Said in the sixth verse (49) is: أَهَـٰؤُلَاءِ الَّذِينَ أَقْسَمْتُمْ لَا يَنَالُهُمُ اللَّـهُ بِرَ‌حْمَةٍ ۚ ادْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلَا أَنتُمْ تَحْزَنُونَ ﴿49﴾ (Is it these for whom you swore that Allah would not reach them with mercy?" - "Enter the Paradise; there is no fear on you, nor shall you grieve).

Explaining this, Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ says: When the questions and answers between the people of A` raf and the people of Paradise and Hell both will be over, that will be the time when the Lord of all the worlds will address the people of Hell and tell them about the people of A` raf that they swore that the people of A` raf will not be forgiven their sins and mercy will not be shown to them. Then, there comes an immediate declaration of His mercy when the people of A` raf will be told: Go and enter the Paradise. You should have no fear of what had happened in the past nor should you have any anxiety about the future. (Ibn Kathir)

The world offers a spread of two types of food—one worldly and the other other-worldly. There is one kind of man whose soul derives nourishment from seeing his ‘self’ receive prominence. He feels very happy when he is surrounded by worldly glories. He considers himself successful on procuring and becoming the owner of worldly material goods. This man is completely forgetful of God and the life of the Hereafter. If anything relating to God is brought to his attention, he will consider it insignificant and ignore it. He will deal with it superficially, as if it were not a serious matter but a trivial charade. For such a person there will be no share in the bounties of Hereafter. He has fostered such a soul in himself as could derive nourishment only from worldly materials. Then, how can his soul be nourished by the things of the Hereafter? For one who has not lived for the Hereafter in his life today cannot be held deserving for God’s blessings in the Hereafter. The other kind of person is one who has been lost in unseen realities; whose soul could relish the remembrance of the Hereafter; whose bread and butter will be living in God and breathing in the atmosphere of God. This will be the man for whom the Hereafter will be a place where he will find all the good things he desires. But just as he had found God in the world of the unseen, so will he find God in the seen world of the Hereafter. Why does it happen that, in this world of God, man forgets God? The reason is that God makes His appearance felt in the world through signs which come within human grasp only on reflection. Man leans towards outward things and ignores the signs pointing to God. But any such action amounts to forsaking the Hereafter for the sake of the world. And one who takes no account of the Hereafter in the life before death will be deprived of the Hereafter even in the life after death. When people show blatant disregard for something which has been presented to them by God as the Truth, they in effect are treating God Himself as being so unimportant as to be undeserving of any serious consideration. They may possibly be deceived by the divine forces underlying Truth remaining invisible, but they nevertheless risk being ignored by God on the Day of Reckoning, just as they — imagining that no harm could come to them thereby—ignored God in this life.