"He will say, 'How many years did you stay [on earth]?'"—He will say this to them in the Hereafter—"'on the earth in number of years?'"—meaning: what is the number of years that you stayed on the earth? [By this, He intends to teach them the brevity of] (f. 230) their remaining in the worldly life, [so that the worldly life appears insignificant] to them.
﴿قَالَ كم لبثتم﴾ يَقُولُهُ لَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ ﴿فِي الأَرْض عدد سِنِين﴾ أَيْ: كَمْ عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ الَّتِي لَبِثْتُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ [يُرِيدُ بِذَلِكَ أَن يعلمهُمْ قلَّة] (ل ٢٣٠) بَقَائِهِمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا [فَتَصَاغَرَتِ الدُّنْيَا] عِنْدهم
