And when it was established that he is a warner, and the most fearful of warnings is to hasten, he said, resuming and belittling for them the world, dissuading them from it: "As if they are" meaning these deniers of the truth of the warning by it, "the Day they see it" meaning they know the Day of Resurrection with knowledge that is like sight, and they see what occurs in it after hearing the call and their rising from the graves, from their knowledge of what has passed from their time and what is to come from it. "They did not remain" meaning in the world and in the graves, "except an evening" meaning from noon until sunset.

And when they were not certain of anything from what they say, he said: "Or its morning" meaning the morning of the evening from the evenings, and it is the early part of the day until noon, and the evening is what comes after that. The morning was added to it because it is part of the day, and for an addition that occurs with the slightest connection, and here it is due to both being from one day. So the intended meaning is an hour of the day, whether its beginning or its end, they did not complete a full day and did not combine between its two ends. This is as he said, blessings and peace be upon him, "What is the world in the Hereafter except as one of you puts his finger in the sea, let him see what it returns with." And this is an expression for us by what we can feel, approximating to our minds, even though the principle is that there is no comparison between what is finite and what is infinite. However, the disbelievers also shorten the duration of their stay, so they are like different types: some of them say, "If you remained except for ten," and some say, "If you remained except for a day," and some are confused and say, "Ask the counters," or that these are their sayings. The truth of that is what Allah informed of, not added to their sayings, that what has passed for them in comparison to what is to come is as if it is an hour of the day in relation to the complete day, as Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said in Surah Yunus, blessings and peace be upon him, "And the Day He gathers them, it will be as if they had not remained except for an hour of the day, recognizing one another." (Yunus: 45) And among them are those who say that as Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said in Surah Al-Mu'minun when He said, "How long did you remain on earth, a number of years?" (Al-Mu'minun: 112) They said, "We remained a day or part of a day, so ask the counters." (Al-Mu'minun: 113) And that is in relation to what was revealed to them that they are facing what has no end, or that when they were taken by the breath of Israfil, blessings and peace be upon him, by the hand of power from their graves, with a severe taking, they stood up and saw those terrors and knew what they are to face from the horrors. They shortened the duration of their stay before that because whoever enjoys something shortens its duration, and they enjoyed that even if it was from the bitterest of bitterness for them that they encountered it. The end of it returned with the Day of Resurrection to its beginning, and its details were intertwined with the taking of the reproaching souls to its connector, and it was connected to the first of what follows it from the aspect of fear and remembrance. So how beautiful is its connection! Glorified is He who made it intertwining between the segments and the views, and placed it in gardens with firm paths and references. And Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is the one who grants success to what is right, and to Him is the return and the destination.