أَو تَقولَ حينَ تَرَى العَذابَ لَو أَنَّ لي كَرَّةً فَأَكونَ مِنَ المُحسِنينَ

Or say when he sights the punishment: ‘If only there had been a second chance for me I would be among the virtuous!’

EXEGESIS

Karrah: return.^{‎[1]Raghib; Bahrayn, under k-r-r.} Here, it means having a second chance by returning to this world and being given the opportunity to act otherwise. Had there been another turn for us, we would be among the faithful (26:102).

The use of law (if only) shows the impossibility of the person returning to this world after death.^{‎[2]Qaraati, 8/193.}

Muḥsinīn: see verse 34.

EXPOSITION

The wrongdoers on the Day of Judgement will wish to go back to their life in this world and rectify their deeds and beliefs. Were you to see when they are brought to a halt by the fire, whereupon they will say: ‘If only we were sent back [into the world]! Then we will not deny the signs of our Lord, and we will be among the faithful!’ (6:27). This is only a temporary awakening as they are rendered helpless by God’s sudden punishment. That is why the Quran has repeatedly emphasised that were they to be sent back they would revert to what they were forbidden, and they are indeed liars (6:28; see also 23:99-100, 23:107, and 44:15). As long as right beliefs and righteous acts are not established in a person, he will revert to his old habits and customs, because Everyone acts according to his character (17:84); the only chance to establish these qualities and to build one’s character is our life in this world.

These three statements (in verses 56-58) can be matched with three stages that the wrongdoers will go through in the hereafter: when they realise that they are recompensed according to their actions, they will say: Alas for my negligence in the vicinage of Allah (see also 6:31). When reckoning takes place and they are separated from the pious (36:59) they will say: Had Allah guided me I would have surely been among the God-wary. Finally, when they are taken to the fire (6:27) and see the punishment while the virtuous are taken to paradise, they will say: If only there had been a second chance for me I would be among the virtuous.^{‎[3]Mizan, 17/283.} It could also be that these three statements describe three different groups of wrongdoers, as interpreted by Qatādah.^{‎[4]Tabari, 24/14.}

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘When a disbeliever dies, 70,000 angels from the guardians of hell will accompany him to his grave, while he begs those who carry him with a loud scream that everyone can hear except for men and jinn, saying: If only there had been a second chance for me I would be among the believers’^{‎[5]Amali.S, p. 290, h. 12.}

[1] Raghib; Bahrayn, under k-r-r.
[2] Qaraati, 8/193.
[3] Mizan, 17/283.
[4] Tabari, 24/14.
[5] Amali.S, p. 290, h. 12.