They were made to stand before their Lord, a metaphor for being held accountable for reprimand and questioning, just as a wrongdoer is made to stand before his master to be admonished. It is said: They stood for the reward of their Lord. It is said they recognized Him with true recognition. It was said in response to the saying of someone: What did their Lord say to them when they stood before Him? It was said: He said, 'Is this not the truth?' This is a specification from Allah, glorified and exalted is He, for them regarding their denial. And their saying—when they used to hear about resurrection and recompense—was: What is it but the truth, and what is it but falsehood due to your disbelief in meeting Allah by reaching the Hereafter and what is connected to it. The discussion about this has been elaborated in other places. And 'until' is a limit for their denial, not for their loss, because their loss has no limit. That is, their denial continued until their regret at the time of the Hour's arrival. If you say: Do they not regret at the time of their death? I say: Since death is an occurrence in the states of the Hereafter and its preliminaries, it is made of the same kind as the Hour and is named after it. That is why the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Whoever dies, his resurrection has occurred.' [Reported by Abu Shuja' al-Dailami in al-Firdaws from Anas with the wording: 'When one of you dies, his resurrection has occurred.' Al-Tabari reported it from the hadith of Ziyad from Al-Ala' from Al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba, who said: 'They say the Hour, the Hour, and indeed the resurrection of a man is his death.' And from the narration of Sufyan from Abu Qais who said: 'I witnessed a funeral in which Alqamah was present. As soon as he was buried, he said: 'Indeed, this one has had his resurrection.' ] Or the coming of the Hour after death is made swift like an occurrence without delay, suddenly. And its standing is in the state of meaning suddenly, or on the source as if it were said: The Hour surprised them suddenly. We were negligent in it; the pronoun refers to this worldly life, and it is brought with its pronoun even though it was not mentioned because it is known, or to the Hour in the sense that we were negligent in its matter and in believing in it, just as you say: I was negligent regarding so-and-so. And from it: I was negligent in the cause of Allah. They will bear their burdens on their backs, as in His saying: 'Because of what your own hands have earned.' For it is customary to carry burdens on the backs, just as earning is associated with the hands. Evil is what they bear, how evil is the burden they carry, as in His saying: 'Evil is the example of the people.'