Tafseer of Taa-Haa · Taa-Haa · 20:104
We are most knowing of what they say when the best of them in manner will say, "You remained not but one day."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The exposition of the interpretation of the word of Allah the Exalted: نَحْنُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يَقُولُونَ إِذْ يَقُولُ أَمْثَلُهُمْ طَرِيقَةً إِنْ لَبِثْتُمْ إِلا يَوْمًا (We know best what they say, when the most exemplary of them in conduct says: you have remained no more than a day) (20:104)
He — exalted be His praise — says: We know better than they do, when they whisper and confide it to one another in secret with their words إِنْ لَبِثْتُمْ إِلا عَشْرًا (you have remained only ten days), what they say — nothing of what they confide to one another in secret is hidden from Us. إِذْ يَقُولُ أَمْثَلُهُمْ طَرِيقَةً إِنْ لَبِثْتُمْ إِلا يَوْمًا (when the most exemplary of them in conduct says: you have remained only a day): He — exalted be His praise — says: when the most perfect of them in intellect and the most knowledgeable among them says: you have remained in the world only a day.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes also spoke.
* Mention of who said this:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Shuʿba, concerning the words: إِذْ يَقُولُ أَمْثَلُهُمْ طَرِيقَةً : the most perfect of them in intellect.
The reason that He — glory be to His praise — makes this report about their saying on that day is to make clear to His servants that those who disbelieve in Allah, on account of the immense terror they behold on the Day of Resurrection and the severity of their fear of the tremendous situation with which they are confronted, will forget what they enjoyed in the world of prosperity and pleasure, and how many years they lived therein — so that even the most intelligent of them, the most attentive and most understanding among them, gets the impression that they lived therein only a single day.
