لِيَحْمِلُوٓا۟ أَوْزَارَهُمْ كَامِلَةً يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ ۙ وَمِنْ أَوْزَارِ ٱلَّذِينَ يُضِلُّونَهُم بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ ۗ أَلَا سَآءَ مَا يَزِرُونَ
29:14.
Commentary:
The verse signifies that by such devices as those mentioned in the preceding verse the leaders of disbelief manage to deceive their followers and retain their support; but in this way they ruin their own future, because on the Day of Judgement they will not only be punished for their own misdeeds but also for the imposition and deception they practised upon their ignorant followers. The particle ل in the Arabic expression لیحملوا (that they may bear) signifies that the consequence of the deception that the leaders of disbelief practise upon their followers would be that they would not only be punished for their own misdeeds but also for the misdeeds of their misguided followers.
What are discarded by disbelievers as tales of the ancients are really prophecies by which opponents of the Holy Prophet are told that if they persist in their opposition to him they will meet with the same fate which befell the enemies of former Prophets. Now those who consider the accounts of the former peoples given in the Quran as so many tales and stories naturally will not ponder over them and not take warning from them, with the result that they will not be guided by them. On the contrary, they will increase in their evil ways and will consequently have to bear heavy burdens on the Day of Resurrection. The word کاملة (in full) may have two interpretations, i.e. (i) they will suffer only a partial punishment in this life, but in the life to come they will have full and complete punishment; (ii) they will undergo the full punishment of their crimes because, being disbelievers, they will not ask for forgiveness of their sins in the present life and therefore there will be no mitigation of their punishment in the next.
29:14.