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Surah An-Naba — 78:40

إِنَّآ أَنذَرْنَـٰكُمْ عَذَابًا قَرِيبًا يَوْمَ يَنظُرُ ٱلْمَرْءُ مَا قَدَّمَتْ يَدَاهُ وَيَقُولُ ٱلْكَافِرُ يَـٰلَيْتَنِى كُنتُ تُرَٰبًۢا

In naa anzar naakum azaaban qareebaiy-yauma yan zurul marr-u maa qaddamat yadaahu wa ya qoolul-kaafiru yaa lai tanee kuntu turaaba

Indeed, we have warned you of a punishment drawing near — a day when each person will look upon what their own hands have sent ahead, and the one who denied will say, "If only I were dust!"

Reflection

Surah an-Naba' closes where it opened, with the ground. Its early argument built human life up out of the earth, spread out as a resting place with mountains set into it, and here the one who denied asks to go back down into the raw material. That wish concedes the whole case: being made was real, and being answerable came with it.

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