Tafsir of Al-Furqan 25:21

"And those who do not hope for our meeting" Meaning: They do not hope for our meeting with goodness, because they are disbelievers. Or, they do not fear our meeting with evil.

In the dialect of Tihama, "hope" (raja') means "fear." This is how the Almighty’s saying is interpreted: "You do not fear [hope for] any majesty from Allah" (Nuh: 13). The transition to the abode of His recompense is treated as equivalent to meeting Him, as if they were actually meeting Him.

"They proposed" They proposed, among the signs, that Allah should send down angels to them to inform them that Muhammad is truthful, so that they might believe him. Or, that they should see Allah openly, so He might command them to believe in him and follow him.

They are in one of two states:

1. Either they knew that Allah does not send angels except to prophets, and that it is impossible for Allah to be seen, and they only made their request knowing that it would not happen.
2. Or they were ignorant of that, and merely intended to be obstinate by proposing signs other than the signs that had already been sent down and by which the proof had been established against them—just as the people of Moses did when they said: "We will not believe you until we see Allah openly."

"If you ask: What is the meaning of 'in themselves'?" I say: It means they harbored arrogance against the truth—which is disbelief and stubbornness—within their hearts and held it as a conviction. As He said: "There is nothing in their breasts but pride; they will never reach it" (Ghafir: 56).

"And they have become arrogant" They have exceeded the limit in injustice. It is said: "So-and-so has become arrogant (‘ata) against us." The arrogance has been described as "great," emphasizing its excess. This means they would not have dared to make this great statement unless they had reached the pinnacle of arrogance and the extreme of insolence.

The lam (in la-qad) is the answer to an omitted oath. This sentence is at the peak of excellence in its initiation. Its style resembles the saying of the poet: And the neighbor of Jassas, we took vengeance for her with a tooth; Kulayb—the tooth of Kulayb was paid for by its equal.

The implication of this verb contains an expression of astonishment without using the formal structure of astonishment. Do you not see that the meaning is: "How intense is their arrogance, and how great is their insolence, and how costly was the tooth for which Kulayb was the price!"

"The day they see the angels, there will be no good news that day for the criminals, and they will say: 'A forbidden barrier!'"