And His saying: ﴿And if you could see﴾ is connected to that, meaning: they said this saying when I informed them of the resurrection. This distressed you from their words, while if you had seen their acknowledgment of it when their Creator asked them, it would have pleased you from their humiliation and what their matter would lead to. He expressed it in the present tense to depict their state at that time. And His saying: ﴿When they are made to stand before their Lord﴾ is a metaphor for being held in a position of majesty, due to the implication of the Lord being related to them, meaning: the One whose kindness towards them has been prolonged and whose forbearance has been shown towards them. He displayed to them what He displayed in that (p-89) position of reprimanding them, rebuking them, and scolding them. He made them aware of what the tool of superiority necessitates - regarding what belongs to Him, glorified and exalted is He, of attributes of greatness, of pride, and of vengeance from upbringing, since they did not thank Him for His kindness in their upbringing. The context of the verse necessitates that the response should be: you would have seen them prevented by awe, the absence of support, and the intensity of fear from speaking. It is as if someone asked: the position guides to that, to the extent that it is as if it is witnessed, so will Allah speak to them because of what the expression implies by describing the Lordship? It was said: yes, but it is a speech of denial, humiliation, and disgrace. ﴿He said: Is this not﴾ meaning: what My Messenger brought to you regarding the matter of resurrection and other than it from what you now see of the signs of My greatness ﴿in truth﴾ meaning: the matter that is established, complete in its truthfulness, which has no illusion in it nor magic. ﴿They said﴾ meaning: when they were made to stand before it. What He intended was: ﴿Indeed﴾ and they added to what they were commanded with in this world an oath, saying: ﴿By our Lord﴾ meaning: the One who has done good to us with various kinds of kindness. It is as if their words are revealed upon states that uncover for them matters one after another, every matter more dreadful than the one before it. And on the Day of Resurrection - as Ibn Abbas said - may Allah be pleased with both of them - there are various states: sometimes Allah does not speak to them, sometimes He speaks to them and they lie, sometimes He asks them about something and they deny, so their limbs testify, and sometimes they speak the truth like in this position and they swear to the truth.

And when they acknowledged, compelled after the veil was lifted and the faith in the unseen was lost due to what they used to deny, it resulted in their humiliation. Therefore, He said, resuming: ﴿He said﴾ meaning: Allah, causing their acknowledgment where it does not benefit, and leaving them in the world where it would have benefited ﴿So taste the punishment﴾ meaning: that which you were promised ﴿for what you used to disbelieve﴾ meaning: because of your persistence in concealing what your minds indicated to you of the truthfulness of your Messenger. And there is no doubt that the speech - even if it is in this form - contains a type of kindness; because it is easier than the punishment while turning away in the position of ﴿Be humiliated therein and do not speak to Us﴾ [Al-Mu'minun: 108]. And for that reason, [that was] the last of the positions.