Overview (Verses 65 - 68)

However, the scene does not end here. It moves on to provide a most singular image: “On that day We shall set a seal on their mouths, but their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will bear witness to whatever they have done.” (Verse 65) Thus, they let each other down; their own bodies give witness against them; their personalities are torn apart with each part claiming that the other is lying. Each organ in their bodies returns to their Lord separately, in full submission to Him. This is a terrible scene, one that we can hardly contemplate.
 
The scene ends with the unbelievers in that state of tied tongues, speaking hands and legs giving witness. This is totally different from what they knew of their nature, and different from what they were expecting. Had God willed, He could have put them in a totally different situation, making them endure whatever hardship He wished to impose on them. The sūrah gives us here two examples of such hardships, making it clear that God could impose the same on anyone: Had it been Our will, We could have blotted their eyes. They would have striven to find the way, but how could they have seen it? And had it been Our will, We could have paralysed them, right in their places, so that they could not move forward or backward. (Verses 66-67) These two examples combine ridicule with contempt: the former answers those who used to pour ridicule on the believers and the divine message, and the latter answers those who were contemptuous when addressed by the message. It was they who used to ask about the time when the promise of the hereafter would be fulfilled, implying that they did not believe it would ever come about. In the first example we see them blind, yet despite their blindness, they rush to find a way, pushing one another aside and in their haste many of them fall down. How could they see? In the second example, they are frozen like statues unable to move an inch. In both examples they appear like toys, inviting ridicule after they were the ones to pour ridicule on the believers and their faith.
 
All this takes place when the promise they used to hasten becomes due. Should they be left to live long on earth, they will end up in a miserable situation, when they will prefer for the promise to be hastened. They attain to old age with all its weaknesses, and they suffer dementia and retardation in feeling and thought. “If We grant long life to a human being, We also cause him to decline in his powers. Will they not use their reason?” (Verse 68)
 
Old age is a second childhood, but without a child’s sweet innocence. An aged person moves backward, forgetting what he has learnt, losing physical and mental powers, unable to endure much, until he is no more than a child. However, a child is always met with a smile when it does something silly. An aged person receives no support, unless it comes from a sense of pity and duty. He is also ridiculed whenever he betrays an element of childishness or stupidity.
 
Both fates await those who persist in rejecting the truth. They are the ones that deprive themselves of the blessings of faith.