The Day when the wrongdoer will bite at his hands

And (remember) the Day when the wrongdoer will bite at his hands, he will say:"O! Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger."

Here Allah tells us of the regret felt by the wrongdoer who rejected the path of the Messenger and what he brought from Allah of clear truth concerning which there is no doubt, and followed another path. When the Day of Resurrection comes, he will feel regret but his regret will avail him nothing, and he will bite on his hands in sorrow and grief.

Whether this Ayah was revealed concerning Uqbah bin Abi Mu`it or someone else among the doomed, it applies to every wrongdoer, as Allah says:

يَوْمَ تُقَلَّبُ وُجُوهُهُمْ فِى النَّارِ 

On the Day when their faces will be turned over in the Fire, (33:66)

As mentioned in those two Ayat every wrongdoer will feel the ultimate regret on the Day of Resurrection, and will bite at his hands, saying:

  

يَا لَيْتَنِي اتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ الرَّسُولِ سَبِيلًا 

يَا وَيْلَتَى لَيْتَنِي لَمْ أَتَّخِذْ فُلَانًا خَلِيلًا

O! Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger. Ah! Woe to me! Would that I had never taken so-and-so as an intimate friend!

meaning, the one among the propagators of misguidance who diverted him from true guidance and led him to follow the path of misguidance

[TAFSEER IBN KATHEER]

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