Tafheem ul Quran
Surah 6 Al-An'am, Ayat 27-28
وَلَوۡ تَرٰٓى اِذۡ وُقِفُوۡا عَلَى النَّارِ فَقَالُوۡا يٰلَيۡتَنَا نُرَدُّ وَلَا نُكَذِّبَ بِاٰيٰتِ رَبِّنَا وَنَكُوۡنَ مِنَ الۡمُؤۡمِنِيۡنَ
﴿6:27﴾
بَلۡ بَدَا لَهُمۡ مَّا كَانُوۡا يُخۡفُوۡنَ مِنۡ قَبۡلُؕ وَلَوۡ رُدُّوۡا لَعَادُوۡا لِمَا نُهُوۡا عَنۡهُ وَاِنَّهُمۡ لَـكٰذِبُوۡنَ
﴿6:28﴾
(6:27) If you could but see when they shall be made to stand by the Fire!
They will plead: 'Would that we were brought back to life? Then we would not
give the lie to the signs of our Lord and would be among the believers.' (6:28) No! They will say this merely because the Truth which they had concealed
will become obvious to them;19 or else if they were sent back, they
would still revert to what was forbidden to them. (So this plea of theirs would
be a lie too) for they are just liars.
Notes
19. At that moment such a statement on their part would not be indicative
of either any true change of heart or of any genuinely revised judgement based
on serious reflection and reasoning. It would rather be the result of direct
observation of reality at a time when even the staunchest unbeliever would find
it impossible to deny it.