“And they will never invoke it on account of what their hands have sent before”...

“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.

The word, “life”, is used in this verse as a common noun - it is to show how insignificant and trifling this life is; Allah has said: And this life of the world is nothing but a sport and a play, and as for the next abode, that most surely is life - did they but know (29:64). Qur’an: and (greedier) that even those who are polytheists: Apparently the conjunctive, “and”, joins this clause to the word, “men”, that is, you will find them greedier than even the polytheists for life.

Qur’an: and his being granted a long life will in no way remove him further off from the chastisement: The verse's literal translation: and it is not a remover of him from the chastisement his being granted a long life.

“ma” ( ما = not, no, particle of negation); the pronoun “it” is that of sha'n [^1] and qissah ( ضَميرُ الشّأن و القصّة ) “his being granted a long life” is the subject preceded by the predicate, that is, “is not a remover of him...” The sentence may also be syntactically analysed in another way: the pronoun, “it”, may refer to the love each of them had of being granted a life of a thousand years.