﴿ وَقَالُوا۟ لَن تَمَسَّنَا ٱلنَّارُ إِلَّآ أَيَّامًۭا مَّعْدُودَةًۭ ۚ قُلْ أَتَّخَذْتُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ عَهْدًۭا فَلَن يُخْلِفَ ٱللَّهُ عَهْدَهُۥٓ ۖ أَمْ تَقُولُونَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

“And they say, "The fire will most certainly not touch us for more than a limited number of days." Say [unto them]: "Have you received a promise from God - for God never breaks His promise - or do you attribute to God something which you cannot know?"”

And they say, 'the Fire shall not touch us, to the end [of the verse: save a number of days'. Say: 'Have you taken with God a covenantḍ God will not fail in His covenant, or say you against God what you do not knowḍ] They believed that the duration of punishment was commensurate with the duration in which the sin was being committed, not knowing that if the sin constituted a corrupt belief fixed within the soul and a condition deeply-rooted in it so that it becomes a natural disposition, a form of its essence, then it [the sin] becomes a cause for eternal punishment, which is the very meaning of His statement: