They said, seeking brevity in response to what they saw of the punishment and seeking to save themselves, thinking that the duration of their stay in the Fire would be equivalent to their stay in the world: "We stayed a day." And perhaps they remembered the worker enjoying the length of the speech, or explicitly stated the intended meaning to eliminate confusion and doubt. Then they increased in minimizing it, saying: "Or part of a day."

And when they were in the world, if they wanted to justify their lies, they would say to whoever they informed: 'Ask so-and-so,' as a means of confirming their news and concealing their faults. They continued in this manner, persisting in their ignorance of the All-Knowing, the Omnipotent, in their saying: "So ask," meaning so that you may know the truth of our news, or due to our hesitation in knowing the reality of the situation to clarify the true duration.

It is also possible that they intended to soften the matter for them by indicating that what they are in of punishment occupies them from being able to conceive of anything present and tangible, let alone something past, and even more so something conceptual, so how about if it were a reckoning.