Commentary
And when the absence of questioning may be due to the lack of seeing one another because of the multitude of the gathering, the intensity of the crowd, and the dispersal of the people according to the ranks of their deeds, he began the response as if he were saying: Perhaps this is left due to their not seeing one another? He said, indicating by the unknown and the action, to the greatness of that insight and its departure from the norm, gathering that the intended meaning of the boiling water is the type and the gathering is more indicative of the generality of the insight. Al-Baghawi said: And there is no creature on the Day of Resurrection except that he has set his own eye upon his companion from among the jinn and mankind - this has ended. The wisdom of that is that it is more indicative of the severing of ties, so no one among them will ask the other about anything concerning him due to each one's preoccupation with himself. Thus, the absence of questioning is not due to obscurity but due to preoccupation, and each person is concerned with what he has: ﴿They will see them﴾ meaning he will see them, and no one will be hidden from another even if his place is far away, and each one will flee from the other due to his concern for himself. And when the news of the greatness of that day reached a limit that hearts cannot bear, he mentioned the result of that and said, beginning anew: ﴿The criminal wishes﴾ [Al-Hijr: 2] meaning he wishes and desires. ﴿The criminal﴾ meaning this type, whether he is a disbeliever or a sinful Muslim, knows that he will be punished for his disobedience, and it is restricted to him because the obedient Muslim will intercede for whom he has been permitted to intercede for, and he is not concerned with anything of that. And it indicates that this wish is merely a desire by his saying: ﴿If only he could ransom﴾ meaning himself ﴿from the punishment of that day﴾ meaning a day when these fears are the most binding upon the hearts of people and the closest to them, let alone that he would ask about his conditions. And when the context was for ransoming, he began with the most precious of them in that, contrary to what comes in 'Abasa, and he said: ﴿With his sons﴾ due to the intensity of what he sees.
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