Overview (Verses 29 - 35)
 
Stark Contrast
 
The beatitude enjoyed by the righteous is discussed at length in order to give a detailed account of the hardships, humiliation and insolence they are made to suffer at the hands of the transgressors. The final comment of the surah taunts the unbelievers as they behold the righteous enjoying heavenly bliss: “Those who are given to sinful practices scoff at the faithful and wink at one another as they pass by them. When they go back to their folk they speak of them with jests, and when they see them they say: ‘These have indeed gone astray!’ Yet they have not been assigned the mission of being their guardians. So on this Day [of Judgement] the faithful will laugh at the unbelievers, as they recline upon their couches and look around them. Shall the unbelievers be requited for what they were wont to do?” (Verses 29-36)
 
The images portrayed by the Qur’an of the evildoers’ derision of the faithful, their rudeness and insolence, and their description of the faithful, as having ‘gone astray’ are taken directly from Makkan life at the time. But the same actions happen over and over again in all ages and places. Many people in our own age have witnessed similar actions, and it is as if the surah was revealed to describe what they see with their own eyes. This proves that the attitude of the transgressors and the evildoers to the believers hardly ever changes from one country to another or from one period of time to another.
 
“Those who are given to sinful practices scoff at the faithful.” (Verse 29) In the Arabic original, the past tense is used here so as to take us away from this world to the hereafter to see the righteous in their bliss while we also hear what happened to them in this world. The believers were made to suffer ridicule and derision by the transgressors, either because they were poor or weak or because their self-respect would not allow them to return the abuse of base evildoers. What a contrast: the evildoers persecute the believers and laugh at them shamelessly while the believers stick to dignified self respect and perseverance.
 
“And wink at one another as they pass by them.” (Verse 30) They wink at one another or make certain actions intended as mockery and derision. Such behaviour betrays their baseness and bad manners. They try to make the believers feel embarrassed and helpless. “When they go back to their folk they speak of them with jests.” When they have nourished their evil, little minds with such mockery and injurious actions they go back to their own folk to continue their laughter and derision. They are satisfied with what they have done. Although they have sunk to the lowest depths, they cannot imagine how contemptible they are.
 
“And when they see them they say: ‘These have indeed gone astray!” (Verse 32) This is even more singular! Nothing is more absurd than that those transgressors should speak about right and error, or that they should say that the believers have gone astray. Transgression knows no limits. The transgressors never feel ashamed of what they do or say. Their description of the believers as having gone astray is a clear manifestation of this fact. The Qur’an does not try to defend the believers or refute the evil accusation levelled at them, because it is not worth refuting. It laughs loudly, however, at those who involve themselves impudently in something which does not concern them, “Yet they have not been assigned the mission of being their guardians!” (Verse 33) No one has asked them to look after the believers, or to watch over them, or to assess their situation. So why do they give their unsolicited opinion? This sarcasm concludes the narration of what the transgressors do in this life. The surah relates it as if it is something of the past, and gives an image of the present, i.e. in the hereafter, when the believers rejoice in their heavenly bliss: “So on this Day [of Judgement] the faithful will laugh at the unbelievers, as they recline upon their couches and look around them.” (Verses 34-35) On that day the unbelievers will be shut out from their Lord, suffering isolation combined with the torture of hell when they are told: “This is [the reality] which you denied!’ (Verse 17) At the other end of the scale, the believers recline on couches, in total beatitude, partaking of a pure drink which is secured with a seal of musk and mixed with the waters of Tasnim. As the surah draws the two images, it shows how the tables are turned; for then it is the believers who laugh at the unbelievers.