The mirage: what is seen in the desert from the sunlight at noon. It flows over the surface of the earth as if it were running water. And the flat land: meaning the plain or the plural of plain, which is the level expanse of the earth, like 'jīrah' in 'jār.' And it was recited: 'baqīʿāt' with an elongated 'tā,' like 'dīmāt' and 'qīmāt,' in 'dīmah' and 'qīmah.' Some have made it 'baqīʿāh' with a rounded 'tā,' like 'rajul ʿazāhah.' It is likened to what one does who does not believe and does not follow the truth, from the good deeds that he thinks will benefit him with Allah and save him from His punishment, then his hope is disappointed in the end, and he encounters what he did not expect, by a mirage that the disbeliever sees on the Day of Resurrection, while he is overwhelmed by thirst, and he thinks it is water. He comes to it but finds not what he hoped for, and he finds the guards of Allah with him taking him and dragging him to Hell, and they give him boiling water and pus. They are those whom Allah said about: 'Laboring, weary, and they think that they are doing good.' And We came to what they did of deeds and made it scattered dust. It is said: It was revealed concerning ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah ibn Umayyah, who had worshipped and worn rough garments and sought religion in the pre-Islamic period, then he disbelieved in Islam.