﴿Thus﴾ meaning like this which We tested the companions of Paradise with, from the destruction of what they had (p-316) at their own hands, in the utmost ability to do so and confidence in it, along with their approval of their actions and their preference. And the people of Mecca threatened us with it, yet they did not hasten to repentance: ﴿the punishment﴾ which you warn them [of -] and frighten them with in this world. So when the appointed term which We have decreed for them is completed, We will seize them with it, neither hastening nor neglecting, for it is only the deficient who hastens out of fear of missing out.

And since they were more in denial of the matters of the Hereafter than they were in denial of the matters of this world, He emphasized His saying: ﴿And the punishment of the Hereafter﴾ meaning that which will be in it for the disobedient and the tyrants ﴿is greater﴾ meaning in all that they can imagine.

And since this necessitates for anyone with the slightest awareness to flee from it, He said: ﴿If only they﴾ meaning the disbelievers ﴿knew﴾ meaning if they had knowledge of something from their instincts at a time of times, they would have turned back from what they are in, knowing that it angers Allah and would be the cause of punishment in both abodes. And they, along with that, are among those who are deprived by Allah and by the people of those vile effects, which include false oaths, and it indicates [the lack of -] their bravery and the smallness of their intellects. However, they do not have any type of knowledge now, and the one whose seal is upon his death in disbelief will not have any type of knowledge renewed for him, while others will return at the time which Allah has decreed for them.