Qaloo inna kunna qablu fee ahlina mushfiqeen (surah Tur: 26)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(52:26) They will say: 'When we were living before among our kinsfolk we lived in constant fear (of Allah's displeasure). *20

Qaalooo innaa kunnaa qablu feee ahlinaa mushfiqeen

*20) That is, "We were not heedless and living a care-free life of ease and comfort, but we were always on our guard lest we should commit an evil for which we may be held accountable before God." Here, the mention of "...living among our kinsfolk, in fear and dread," in particular, has been made for the reason that man commits evil mostly when he is deeply engrossed in arranging ease and comfort for his children and trying to make their future secure and happy. For the same purpose he earns forbidden things by forbidden means, usurps the rights of others and makes evil plans. That is why the dwellers of Paradise will say to one another: "That which particularly saved us from the evil of the Hereafter was that while living among our families we did not think so much of arranging the pleasures of life and a splendid future for them as for avoiding for their sake those methods and means that might ruin our life in the Hereafter and that we should not lead our children also on to the way that might make them worthy of the torment of Allah.