كَلَّا لَمَّا يَقْضِ مَآ أَمَرَهُۥ
Kalla lamma yaqdi maa amarah.
Yet man does not fulfil God’s commands.
No! Man has not yet fulfilled what he was commanded.
Arabic distinguishes two negations here, and the one chosen is lammā, which means not yet and leaves the account open — the sentence expects the thing still to be done. It lands between a list of what has been given, from the drop to the grave to the raising, and an instruction that follows immediately, so the reproach is held on both sides by gifts. Kallā, the particle that opens it, occurs 33 times and never once before surah 19.