40:59

إِنَّ ٱلسَّاعَةَ لَأٓتِيَةٞ لَّا رَيۡبَ فِيهَا وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكۡثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يُؤۡمِنُونَ

Inna alssaAAata laatiyatun la rayba feeha walakinna akthara alnnasi la yuminoona

Indeed, the Hour is coming - no doubt about it - but most of the people do not believe.

Word by word
  1. إِنَّIndeed
  2. ٱلسَّاعَةَthe Hour
  3. لَأٓتِيَةٞ(is) surely coming
  4. لَّاno
  5. رَيۡبَdoubt
  6. فِيهَاin it
  7. وَلَٰكِنَّbut
  8. أَكۡثَرَmost
  9. ٱلنَّاسِ(of) the people
  10. لَا(do) not
  11. يُؤۡمِنُونَbelieve
Ghafir · 40:59Makkah

The Hour is coming. No doubt about it.

Certain, even if most do not believe


Two facts
the Hoursurely coming
yet
most peopledo not believe
What makes it true
how many believea majority vote
Allah's wordno doubt in it

After the proof from creation, the verse states it plainly: the Hour will come to pass. Ibn Kathir says most people do not believe in it, and in fact doubt it altogether.

Your friends never talk about the Hereafter. Nobody at work does. It starts to feel unreal because no one mentions it. Truth is not a vote. Something can be certain while most people forget it.

If almost nobody around me believes it, maybe it is not real.

The Hour is certain whether or not the people around me think about it.

Try this

Bring up the Hereafter gently in one conversation this week, in a natural way.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 40:57)

The creation of the heavens and the earth is indeed greater than the creation of mankind; yet, most of the people do not know (57)And not equal are the blind and those who see; nor those who believe, and do righteous good deeds, and those who do evil. Little do you remember (58)Verily, the Hour is surely coming, there is no doubt about it, yet most men believe not (59)

Life after Death

Allah tells us that He will bring back His creation on the Day of Resurrection. That is very easy for Him, because He created the heavens and the earth, and creating them is greater than creating mankind, the first time and when He creates them again. The One Who is able to do that is able to do anything that is less than that. As Allah says:

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّ اللَّهَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَلَمْ يَعْيَ بِخَلْقِهِنَّ بِقَادِرٍ عَلَىٰ أَنْ يُحْيِيَ الْمَوْتَىٰ ۚ بَلَىٰ إِنَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

(Do they not see that Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, and was not wearied by their creation, is able to give life to the dead? Yes, He surely is able to do all things.)(46:33) And Allah says here:

لَخَلْقُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ أَكْبَرُ مِنْ خَلْقِ النَّاسِ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

(The creation of the heavens and the earth is indeed greater than the creation of mankind; yet, most of mankind know not.) hence they do not think about or ponder this proof. Similarly, many of the Arabs recognized that Allah had created the heavens and the earth, but they denied and rejected the idea of the resurrection; they acknowledged something which was greater than that which they denied. Then Allah says:

وَمَا يَسْتَوِي الْأَعْمَىٰ وَالْبَصِيرُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَلَا الْمُسِيءُ ۚ قَلِيلًا مَا تَتَذَكَّرُونَ

(And not equal are the blind and those who see; nor are those who believe, and do righteous good deeds, and those who do evil. Little do you remember!) The blind man who cannot see anything is not the same as the sighted man who can see everything as far as his eyesight reaches – there is a huge difference between them. By the same token, the righteous believers and the immoral disbelievers are not equal.

قَلِيلًا مَا تَتَذَكَّرُونَ

(Little do you remember!) means, most of the people remember little.

إِنَّ السَّاعَةَ لَآتِيَةٌ

(Verily, the Hour (Day of Judgement) is surely coming,) means, it will indeed come to pass.

لَا رَيْبَ فِيهَا وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ 

(there is no doubt about it, yet most men believe not.) means, they do not believe in it, and in fact they doubt its existence altogether.