waqālū āmannā bihi wa-annā lahumu l-tanāwushu min makānin baʿīdin
Translation
And they will [then] say, "We believe in it!" But how for them will be the taking1239 [of faith] from a place far away?1240
Notes
[1239] Literally, "taking of something within easy reach," in other words, "How can they expect to obtain faith at this point?"
[1240] i.e., their former life on earth, wherein they had every opportunity but which is now gone, never to return.
Verse 52 of Surah Saba (34:52), a Meccan surah, is in juz 22, on page 434 of the mushaf. Read it in Arabic with its transliteration, translations and tafsir, and listen to it recited by 73 reciters.
Listen to verse 52 of Surah Saba
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Tafsir of verse 52
Al-Mukhtasar
And they will say when they see their fate: “We have brought faith in the day of judgment”, but how will they pursue and acquire faith when the place for accepting faith has gone far from them, by their leaving the worldly abode, the abode of action and no reward, to the abode of the Hereafter, the abode of reward and no action?
They will say, “Now we believe in it,” but how could they attain faith from such a distant place26,
Notes
[26] For it is already too late to return to worldly life.
And they will say (in the Hereafter): "We do believe (now):" but how could they receive (Faith and the acceptance of their repentance by Allâh) from a place so far off (i.e. to return to the worldly life again).
And say: We (now) believe therein. But how can they reach (faith) from afar off,
And they will say, "We do believe (now) in the (Truth)"; but how could they receive (Faith) from a position (so far off,-
And they shall say: We believe in it. And how shall the attaining (of faith) be possible to them from a distant place?
And they say, "We (now) believe in it." And however can they succeed in the effort to achieve (belief) from a place far (away)?
If you could but see when the criminals are hanging their heads before their Lord, [saying], "Our Lord, we have seen and heard, so return us [to the world]; we will work righteousness. Indeed, we are [now] certain."
