وَلَوْ نَشَآءُ لَطَمَسْنَا عَلَىٰٓ أَعْيُنِهِمْ فَٱسْتَبَقُوا۟ ٱلصِّرَٰطَ فَأَنَّىٰ يُبْصِرُونَ
Wa law nashaaa'u lata masna 'alaaa aiyunihim fasta baqus-siraata fa-annaa yubsiroon
اور اگر ہم چاہیں تو ان کی آنکھوں کو مٹا کر (اندھا کر) دیں۔ پھر یہ رستے کو دوڑیں تو کہاں دیکھ سکیں گے
Had we willed, we could have blotted out their eyes, and they would have rushed for the path — but how could they see?
The road becomes urgent the moment sight is gone: they would race one another for the very path they had been declining to travel, istabaqa being the verb of competing to arrive first. Ṭams describes wiping a surface until its markings are gone, used elsewhere of the stars being put out. The closing question leaves them scrambling toward something they can no longer find.