102:1. Competition for worldly gain distracts you

102:2. until you come to your graves.

102:3. Nay; you will come to know.

102:4. Again, nay; you will come to know.

102:5. Nay; if you knew for certain [the consequences of your actions, you would not act as you do].

102:6. You will surely see the blazing fire.

102:7. Again, you will surely see it with absolute certainty.

102:8. Then on that day you will surely be asked about worldly bounties.

Here Allah Bs) says, rebuking His slaves for being distracted from that for which they were created of worshipping Him alone with no partner or associate, knowing Him and turning to Him, and giving precedence to love of Him over all other things:

﴾Competition for worldly gain distracts you﴿ from what is mentioned above. What they compete in is not specified, so as to include everything that people compete to accumulate and boast about, such as accumulating wealth, children, supporters, troops, servants, status and other things that people usually compete with one another for, where the aim is not to sincerely seek the pleasure of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى).

Your heedlessness and distraction continue ﴾until you come to your graves﴿, whereupon reality becomes clear to you, but that is after it has become impossible for you to rectify your situation.

The words ((until you come to your graves﴿ indicate that al-barzakh is something that people will pass through before reaching the realm of eternity, because the word translated here as ﴾come to)﴿ literally means ‘visit’; Allah describes them as visitors, not as settlers.

This points to the resurrection and requital for deeds, in an eternal realm that will never end. Hence He warns them by saying:

﴾Nay; you will come to know. Again, nay; you will come to know. Nay; if you knew for certain [the consequences of your actions, you would not act as you do]﴿ that is, if you knew what lay ahead of you with knowledge that had an impact on your hearts, you would not be distracted by accumulation of worldly gain and you would hasten to do righteous deeds. But lack of certain knowledge has led you to where you are now.

﴾You will surely see the blazing fire﴿ that is, you will come on the Day of Resurrection and you will surely see the blazing fire that Allah has prepared for the disbelievers.

﴾Again, you will surely see it with absolute certainty﴿ that is, with your own eyes, as Allah te) says elsewhere:﴾The evildoers will see the fire and will realise that they are bound to fall into it, and will find no escape from it.﴿ (al-Kahf 18: 53)

﴾Then on that day you will surely be asked about worldly bounties that you enjoyed in this world: did you give thanks for them and fulfil your duty to Allah concerning them, and not use them to disobey Him, so that He might grant you bounty that is greater and more sublime than them?

Or were you deceived by them and so you failed to give thanks for them, and perhaps you use them to disobey Allah? He will punish you for that, as He says elsewhere:

﴾On the day when those who disbelieved are brought before the fire, [it will be said to them]: You had your share of good things in the life of the [previous] world, and you had your fill of pleasure. Today you will be recompensed with a humiliating punishment, because you behaved arrogantly on earth without justification and because you acted rebelliously.p (al-Ahqaf46: 20)

This is the end of the commentary on Soorat at-Takathur.

All praise and thanks are for Allah, and may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). his family, and his Companions abundantly until the Day of Judgement.