On that Day hypocrite men and women will beg the believers, “Wait for us so that we may have some of your light.” It will be said ˹mockingly˺, “Go back ˹to the world˺ and seek a light ˹there˺!” Then a ˹separating˺ wall with a gate will be erected between them. On the near side will be grace and on the far side will be torment.6
One Day will the Hypocrites- men and women - say to the Believers: "Wait for us! Let us borrow (a Light) from your Light!" 5290 It will be said: "Turn you back to your rear! then seek a Light (where you can)!" So a wall 5291 will be put up betwixt them, with a gate therein. Within it will be Mercy throughout, and without it, all alongside, will be (Wrath and) Punishment!
5290 Watchful preparation in Life, and the light of Faith, which reflects the divine Light, are matters of personal Life, and cannot be borrowed from another. So, in Christ's parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. 25:1-13), when the foolish ones had let their lamps go out for want of oil, they asked to borrow oil from the wise ones, but the wise ones answered and said, "Not so; ... but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves".
5291 The wall of Personality, or Record of Deeds, will divide the Good from the Evil. But the Gateway in it will show that communication will not be cut off. Evil must realise that Good-i.e., Mercy and Felicity-had been within its reach, and that the Wrath which envelops it is due to its own rejection of Mercy.
On that Day shall the hypocrites, both men and women, 13 speak [thus] unto those who have attained to faith: “Wait for us! Let us have a [ray of] light from your light!” [But] they will be told: “Turn back, and seek a light [of your own]!” 14 And thereupon a wall will be raised between them [and the believers], with a gate in it: within it will be grace and mercy, and against the outside thereof, suffering. 15
13 Meant here are, apparently, not only outright "hypocrites" (in the connotation given to this term in Western languages), but also people who, being shaky in their beliefs and uncertain in their moral convictions, are inclined to deceive themselves (see note 7 on 29:11).
14 I.e., "you should have sought light while you lived on earth".
15 The stress on there being a gate in the wall separating true believers and hypocrites (or the weak of faith) points to the possibility of the latters’ redemption: cf. the famous hadith quoted in note 10 on 40:2. Mujahid (as quoted by Tabari) identifies the "wall" spoken of here with the "barrier" (hijab) mentioned in 7:46 .
6 This wall is said to be the barrier of Al-A’râf (or the heights) between Paradise and Hell. See 7:46-49.