Tafsir of As-Saffat 37:25

Meaning: None of you helps the other. The address is directed to them and their gods, or to them alone; that is: what is the matter with you that you do not assist one another as you used to claim in the worldly life? It has been narrated that Abu Jahl said on the day of Badr: "We are a gathered host, triumphant."

The postponement of this question to that time is because it is the moment of the execution of the torment, the intensity of the need for assistance, and the state of severed hope; at such a time, rebuke and reproach have a more severe impact and effect.

It is said: The inquiry regarding this occurs at the station of reckoning, after their accounts have been completed and the command has been given to guide them to Hell. It is as if the angels—upon them be peace—were ordered to lead them to the Fire and direct them toward it, and they hastened to fulfill what they were commanded, so it was said to them: "Stop them; indeed, they are to be questioned."

What prevails in my view is that the command to guide them to Hell occurs only after the proof has been established against them and their excuses cut off, which is after they have been reckoned. The connection of "Guide them" to "Gather them" with the fa (implying sequence) is an indication of the speed with which their reckoning and questioning occur.

"What is the matter with you that you do not help one another?" is most fitting to be after the realization of what necessitates mutual assistance, and that is not until after the reckoning and the command for them to be taken to the Fire. Perhaps, then, the time for this question is at the beginning of their being directed toward the Fire, and Allah the Exalted knows best.

Isa read it as annahum (that they), with an open hamza, implying li-annahum (because they). Al-Bazzi, on the authority of Ibn Kathir, read it as la tatanasaron (you do not help one another) with two ta’s without assimilation, and it has also been read with one of them assimilated into the other.