Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:31
Those will have lost who deny the meeting with Allah, until when the Hour [of resurrection] comes upon them unexpectedly, they will say, "Oh, [how great is] our regret over what we neglected concerning it," while they bear their burdens on their backs. Unquestionably, evil is that which they bear.
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 explanation of His word: قَدْ خَسِرَ الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِلِقَاءِ اللَّهِ حَتَّى إِذَا جَاءَتْهُمُ السَّاعَةُ بَغْتَةً قَالُوا يَا حَسْرَتَنَا عَلَى مَا فَرَّطْنَا فِيهَا ("Truly lost are those who denied the meeting with Allah, until, when the Hour comes upon them suddenly, they say: 'O our regret over what we neglected therein.'")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, means by His word "Truly lost are those who denied the meeting with Allah" — they have perished and incurred loss in their exchange of faith (īmān) for unbelief (kufr). "Those who denied the meeting with Allah" means: those who denied the resurrection after death, the reward and the punishment, the Garden (janna) and the Fire, namely the polytheists (mushrikīn) of the Quraysh and whoever followed their path therein. "Until, when the Hour comes upon them" — He says: until the Hour comes upon them in which Allah raises the dead from their graves.
The alif and the lām ("the") are attached to "the Hour," because its meaning is known to those whom it addresses, and because what is meant by it is: the Hour that has been described.
By His word "suddenly" He means: abruptly, without the one whom it overtakes knowing the time at which it overtakes him.
It is said concerning this: "baghattuhu abghatuhu baghtatan," when you overtake someone in that manner.
"They say: 'O our regret over what we neglected therein'" — He, exalted is His mention, says: loss has been incurred by those who denied the meeting with Allah, in that they sold their dwellings in the Garden in exchange for the dwellings of those whose dwellings in the Fire they purchased from the people of the Garden. So when the Hour overtakes them suddenly, they say — when they behold with their own eyes what they have sold and bought, and the loss of the transaction that they had concluded in the worldly life becomes clear — out of regret and lamentation over the tremendous delusion in which they have wronged themselves, and over the immense loss above which no loss is more immense: "O our regret over what we neglected therein." He says: O our remorse over what we squandered therein, that is to say: their transaction.
The hāʾ and the alif in His word "therein" (fīhā) refer back to the mention of "the transaction" (al-ṣafqa), but one has sufficed with what His word "Truly lost are those who denied the meeting with Allah" indicates of it, without mentioning it explicitly, since it is known that "loss" occurs only in a transaction of purchase that has taken place.
The meaning of the statement is only: loss has been incurred by those who denied the meeting with Allah, in that they sold faith — by which they earn Allah's good pleasure and His Garden — for unbelief, by which they earn His wrath and His punishment, while they do not realize the loss that afflicts them therein, until the Hour arrives. So when the Hour overtakes them suddenly and they behold the loss that has afflicted them in their transaction, they say at that moment, out of regret: "O our regret over what we neglected therein."
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) also spoke.
Mention of who said that:
13185 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word "O our regret over what we neglected therein": as for "O our regret," that is our remorse; "over what we neglected therein," that is: over what we squandered of the work for the Garden.
13186 — Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Mihrān related to us, saying: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, concerning His word "O our regret," he said: "The people of the Fire will behold their dwellings in the Garden, and then they will say: O our regret."
The explanation of His word: وَهُمْ يَحْمِلُونَ أَوْزَارَهُمْ عَلَى ظُهُورِهِمْ أَلا سَاءَ مَا يَزِرُونَ (31) ("And they carry their burdens upon their backs; verily, evil is what they bear.") (31)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says: and these who denied the meeting with Allah, "carry their burdens upon their backs." His word "and they" (wa-hum) refers back to them; "carry their burdens" — He says: their sins and their transgressions.
The singular of it is "wizr" (burden). It is said concerning this: "wazara al-rajul yaziru," when someone sins. Allah says: "verily, evil is what they bear." If what is meant is that they are laden with sin, then one says: "the people are laden with sin, they are laden, and they are laden ones."
Some have claimed that "al-wizr" means heaviness and the load. But I do not know that to be so in any attesting evidence, nor from the transmission of a reliable narrator concerning the Arabs.
He, exalted is His mention, said "upon their backs," because carrying may at times take place upon the head, upon the shoulder, and elsewhere; therefore He clarified the place upon which they carry what they carry of it.
And it has been mentioned that their carrying of their burdens on that Day takes place upon their backs, in the manner of the following:
13187 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr ibn Salmān related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Mulāʾī related to us, saying: When the believer emerges from his grave, the most beautiful in form and the most fragrant in scent receives him, and it says to him: 'Do you know me?' He says: 'No, except that Allah has made your scent fragrant and your form beautiful!' It says: 'Thus was I in the worldly life; I am your good deed. Long did you ride me in the worldly life; so ride me today!' And he recited: يَوْمَ نَحْشُرُ الْمُتَّقِينَ إِلَى الرَّحْمَنِ وَفْدًا ("The Day on which We gather the godfearing as a delegation to the Most Merciful") [Surah Maryam: 85]. And the unbeliever — the ugliest in form and the most foul in scent receives him, and it says: 'Do you know me?' He says: 'No, except that Allah has made your form ugly and your scent foul!' It says: 'Thus was I in the worldly life; I am your evil deed. Long did you ride me in the worldly life, so today I ride you.' And he recited: "and they carry their burdens upon their backs; verily, evil is what they bear."
13188 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and they carry their burdens upon their backs" — there is no unjust man who dies and enters his grave but that a man comes with an ugly face, a black color, and a foul scent, dressed in dirty garments, until he enters his grave with him. When he sees him, he says to him: 'How ugly is your face!' He says: 'Thus ugly was your deed!' He says: 'How foul is your scent!' He says: 'Thus foul was your deed!' He says: 'How dirty is your garment!' He says — and then he says: 'Your deed was dirty.' He says: 'Who are you?' He says: 'I am your deed!' He says: and thus he is with him in his grave. Then when he is raised on the Day of Resurrection, he says to him: 'I carried you in the worldly life with pleasures and desires, so you carry me today.' He says: and then he climbs upon his back and drives him on until he leads him into the Fire. That is His word: "they carry their burdens upon their backs."
As for His word, exalted is His mention: "verily, evil is what they bear" — He means: verily, evil is the burden that they bear, that is to say: the sin that they commit against their Lord, as in:
13189 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "verily, evil is what they bear," he said: evil is what they do.
