"to the exclusion of the people"...

"to the exclusion of the people", because you presume that all religions, except your own, are false. If you really think so, "then invoke death if you are truthful ". This challenge is similar to the one given in verse: Say: "0 you who are Jews, if you think that you are the friends of Allah to the exclusion of other people, then invoke death if you are truthful" (62:6). The argument is very clear about which nobody can have any doubt whatsoever. Any man (nay!

even an animal having a limited perception and sensitivity), if given total freedom to choose between comfort and discomfort, will at once opt for the comfort, without any hesitation, without any contemplation. Put before him a life polluted with trouble and turmoil and another clean and pure, and tell him to take hold of any one; naturally, and without any doubt, he will grab at the pure one.

If for any reason he is prevented from the life of his choice, he will always dream of it, and will remain looking for any opportunity to lay his hands upon it. If the Jews are truthful in their claim that the other world's pure happiness belongs to them to the exclusion of others, then they must yearn for it with their hearts, words and deeds.

"And they will never invoke it on account of what their hands have sent before", for example, the killings of the prophets, the disbelief in Musa (a.s.) and breaking of the covenants, "and Allah knows the unjust ones". QUR'AN: on account of what their hands have sent before: It is a metaphorical reference to the "deeds". Most of the external deeds are done by hands; then the finished product is sent to the one who wants it or may benefit from it.

The sentence has two allegorical allusions: it counts every deed as having been done by hands; and it ascribes the action of "sending" to the hands while in fact it is the man who sends his deeds before. Actions of a man, and especially those done regularly, are a clear mirror of his unconscious and sub-conscious personality. Evil deeds expose the evil nature of the doer - and such a nature does not like meeting its Lord or staying in the abode of His friends.

QUR'AN: And you will most certainly find them the greediest of men for life: It is an explanation of the divine word, "And they will never invoke it . . . " They do not yearn for death because they are greediest of all men for the life of this world. It is this greed and avid craving to remain in this world which prevents them from looking forward to the next abode.