"Then when they saw it" [in a state of ruin], black, while their memory of it from the previous day was that it was flourishing, "they said, 'We are indeed lost,'" meaning: we have lost the way. They thought it was not their garden, then they became certain that it was their garden.
﴿فَلَمَّا رأوها﴾ [خَرَابًا] (٣) سَوْدَاءَ، وَعَهْدُهُمْ بِهَا بِالْأَمْسِ عامرة ﴿قَالُوا إِنَّا لضالون﴾ أَيْ: ضَلَلْنَا الطَّرِيقَ، ظَنُّوا أَنَّهَا لَيْسَتْ جَنَّتَهُمْ ثُمَّ أَيْقَنُوا أَنَّهَا جنتهم.
