(وَلَوْ أَنَّنَا نَزَّلْنَا إِلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ)  (And even if We had sent down to them the angels): Even if the angels came down before them, and the dead were to rise from their graves, speak to them and say: We are gathered.

(وَحَشَرْنَا) (We gathered together): The Arabic word refers to together with pressure.

(كُلَّ شَيْءٍ قُبُلًا) (every [created] thing in front of them): Everything before their eyes to see.

      (مَّا كَانُوا لِيُؤْمِنُوا إِلَّا أَن يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ  ) (they would not believe unless Allah should will.): Allah (swt) has related everything to His Omnipotence. One may ask: “How is it my fault, if He did not guide me, since it is His Will not to guide me?” We answer him that it is Allah’s Will, be He blessed and exalted, that He (swt) gave us the freedom to choose between good and evil; faith and polytheism; truth and falsehood. Had He (swt) willed it, He would not have given us the freedom of choice. Allah (swt) says:

(ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ وَهِيَ دُخَانٌ فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلْأَرْضِ ائتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَا أَتَيْنَا طَائِعِينَ  )

(Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, “Come [into being], willingly or by compulsion.” They said, “We have come willingly.) (Fussilat: 11).

      Allah (swt) also says:

(إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا )

(Indeed, we offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it; but man [undertook to] bear it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant.) (Al-Ahzaab: 72).

      The ‘Trust’ of choice and that of mind. The alternative options before him relate here to the Divine Will. When someone says: “Allah (swt) did not guide me. Had He (swt) willed it, He (swt) would have”. You did not choose. It was His Will that He (swt) gave you the choice. He (swt) would have deprived you the ability to choose, if that had been His Will. This is why He (swt) says: (they would not believe unless Allah should will.).

      (وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ يَجْهَلُونَ) (But most of them, [of that], are ignorant.): Let us consider the word (ignorant). Does it mean illiteracy? No. Illiteracy has a meaning other than ignorance. An illiterate is a person who does not have knowledge but if you teach him, he will learn. As for the ignorant, he is someone who has wrong knowledge yet he insists on it with arrogance. This is why Amr bin Hisham was called Abu Jahl. He is the ignorant who knows and distorts the truth.