'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' Allah, the Exalted, says: "People ask you about the Hour. Say, 'Its knowledge is only with Allah. And what will make you know? Perhaps the Hour is near.'" "Indeed, Allah has cursed the disbelievers and prepared for them a Blaze." "They will abide therein forever; they will not find a protector or a helper." "On the Day their faces will be turned about in the Fire, they will say, 'Oh, how we wish we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger.'" "And they will say, 'Our Lord, indeed we obeyed our masters and our grandes, and they led us astray from the way.'" "Our Lord, give them double the punishment and curse them with a great curse." The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was asked about the time of the Hour. He did not respond to that with anything, and the verse was revealed, commanding that the knowledge of it be returned to Allah. For it is one of the keys of the unseen that Allah, the Exalted, has kept to Himself. Then He warned of its nearness in His saying: "And what will make you know?" This means that you should be cautious. And "near" is a term that is singular in form, both in plural and singular, and masculine and feminine. If it were an adjective for "the Hour," it would have been "near." Then Allah, the Exalted, warned the disbelievers of a punishment for which they will have no protector or helper. His saying: "On the Day" may be connected to what preceded it, and the operative word in it is "they will not find." This is the interpretation of Al-Tabari. It may also be that the operative word in it is "they will say" and it serves as an adverb for the saying. The majority read: "Their faces will be turned about" in the passive form, with the 'ta' pronounced and the 'lam' stressed and open. Abu Haywah read: "Their faces will be turned about" with the 'ta' open, meaning they will be turned. Ibn Abi Abla read: "They will be turned about" with two 'ta's. Khurayjah and Abu Haywah read: "We will turn" with the 'nun.' Isa ibn Umar al-Kufi read: "Their faces will be turned" with the 'ta' rounded and the 'lam' broken and the 'faces' in the accusative, meaning the Blaze will turn their faces. On that Day, they will wish for faith and obedience to Allah and His Messenger when wishing will not benefit them. Then they will resort to complaining about their grandes for having led them astray. The majority of people read: "Our masters," which is the plural of 'master.' Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan, Ibn Amer alone among the seven, Abu Abdur-Rahman, Abu Rajaa, Qatadah, and the public in the main mosque in Basrah read: "Our leaders," in the plural of the plural. And "the way" is a second object because "led astray" is transitive with a hamzah, while "to go astray" is transitive to one object, which is the way of faith and guidance. Then they prayed that Allah would double the punishment for the misleading grandes, meaning for themselves and for those whom they led astray. Aasim, Ibn Amer, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, and al-A'raj - with a difference from him - read: "A great curse" with the 'ba,' from greatness. The rest and the majority read: "A many curse" with the 'tha' of three, and the many is more similar in meaning to the curse from greatness, meaning curse them many times.