Transliteration:( Kallaa bal laa yakhaafoonal aakhirah )
“By no means! Rather, they do not fear the Hereafter.”
In this verse, Allah (اللَّهُ ) points out the false excuses of the disbelievers. Despite witnessing many miracles and divine signs, such as pebbles and stones reciting the Kalimah, the moon splitting into two, and the sun setting and returning, they continued to reject faith. The verse clarifies that their rejection of the message was not due to a lack of evidence, but because they did not fear the Hereafter.
Had they truly feared the consequences of the Hereafter, they would not have hesitated to believe in the Holy Prophet ﷺ and accept the truth of Islam. This indicates that their disbelief was rooted in arrogance and stubbornness, not in a lack of miracles or divine signs.
Thus, this verse emphasizes that fear of the Hereafter is a key factor in one’s willingness to accept the truth and follow the guidance of Allah.
The tafsir of Surah Muddaththir verse 53 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Muddaththir ayat 38 which provides the complete commentary from verse 38 through 56.
(74:53) No indeed; the truth is that they have no fear of the Hereafter.[39]
39. That is, the real cause of their failure to affirm the faith is not that their demands are not fulfilled, but the real cause is that they are fearless of the Hereafter. They think that this world is an end in itself and they do not have any idea that there is another life after this worldly life in which they will have to render an account of their deeds. This very thing has made them careless and irresponsible in the world. They regard the question of truth and falsehood as utterly meaningless, for they do not see any truth following which may have necessarily led to a good result in the world, nor do they see any falsehood which might have always led to an evil result in the world. Therefore, they think it is useless merely to consider as to what is really true and what is false. This question can be worthy of serious consideration only for the person who regards the present life of the world as transitory and admits that the real and everlasting life is the life hereafter, where the truth will necessarily lead to a good result and falsehood necessarily to an evil result. Such a person will certainly believe when he sees the rational arguments and the pure teachings presented in the Quran and will use his common sense to understand what is actually wrong with the beliefs and deeds which the Quran calls wrong. But the denier of the Hereafter who is not at all serious in his search for the truth, will present ever new demands every day for not believing, and will present a new excuse for his denial even if all his demands are fulfilled. This same thing has been expressed in (Surah Al-Anaam, Ayat 7) thus: O Prophet, even if We had sent down to you a Book written on paper, and even if they had touched it with their own hands, the disbelievers would have said: This is nothing but manifest sorcery.
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