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The Hafs reading is "Qala", "He will say". This follows the Kufa Qiraat. The Basra Qiraat reads "Qul", "Say" (in the imperative). The point is only one of grammatical construction. See n. 2666 to xxi. 4.
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This part of the allegorical "dialogue" between God and the doomed sinners touches (as do several other verses of the Qur’an) upon the illusory, problematical character of "time" as conceived by man, and the comparative irrelevancy of the life of this world within the context of the ultimate - perhaps timeless - reality known only to God. The disappearance, upon resurrection, of man’s earth-bound concept of time is indicated by the helpless answer, "ask those who are able to count time".
Compared to the length and misery of their stay in the grave and Hell, their worldly life will seem very short to them.
The question and answer about Time imply two things. (1) The attention of the ungodly is drawn to the extremely short time of the life in this world, compared to the eternity which they face: they are made to see this, and to realise how mistaken they were in their comparative valuation of things spiritual and things material. (2) Time, as we know it now, will have faded away and appear as almost nothing. It is just a matter relative to this life of temporary probation. Cf. the experience of the Companions of the Cave: xviii. 19.
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Lit., "that you would not be brought back to Us", i.e., for judgment.
Allah's Creation is not without a high serious purpose. It is not vain, or for mere play or sport. As far as man is concerned, the highest issues for him hang on his behaviour in this life. "Life is real, life is earnest, And the grave is not its goal", as Longfellow truly says. We must therefore earnestly search out Allah's Truth, encouraged by the fact that Allah's Truth is also, out of His unbounded mercy, searching us out and trying to reach us.
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See surah {20}, note [99].
Lit., "the Sustainer (rabb) of the bountiful throne of almightiness (al-'arsh al-karim)". See also surah {7}, note [43], for an explanation of my rendering of al-'arsh as "the throne of [His] almightiness".
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Not with any one else whatever, as Allah is the Eternal Reality. If men, out of the figments of their imagination, fancy other gods, they will be rudely undeceived. And Allah is Lord, i.e., our Cherisher as well as our Creator. In spite of all our shortcomings and our rebellions, He will forgive us if we go to Him not on our merits but on His grace.
See the same word used in describing the contrast with the Believers, in the first verse of this Sura. Righteousness must win and all opposition to it must fail. Thus the circle of the argument is completed.
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