Wama khalaqna assamaa wal-arda wama baynahuma batilan thalika thannu allatheena kafaroo fawaylun (surah Sad: 27)

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

(38:27) We did not create this heaven and earth and all that lies between them in vain. That is the fancy of those who denied the Truth. *29 So woe from the Fire to all who deny the Truth.

Wa ma khalaqnas samaaa`a wal arda wa maa bainahumaa baatilaa; zaalika zannul lazeena kafaroo; fawi lul lillazeena kafaroo minan Naar

*29) That is, "We have not created anything in the world merely in sport and fun so that it may be without any wisdom and purpose and justice, and there may acme no result from any act, good or bad." This is the conclusion of the preceding discourse as well as an introduction to the following theme. The object of this statement as a conclusion to the discourse is to impress the following truth: 'Man has not been left to wander about at will in the world, nor is this world a lawless kingdom that one may do here whatever one likes with impunity." As an introduction to the following theme, the sentence is meant to say: "The person who does not believe in the meting out of the rewards and punishments, and thinks that both the good and the evil people will ultimately end up in the dust after death and that nobody will be called to account, nor will anyone be rewarded for good or punished for evil, in fact, regards the world as a plaything and its Creator a senseless player, and thinks that by creating the world and man in it, the Creator of the Universe has committed a useless thing. The same thing has been stated in different ways at several places in the Qur'an, e.g. 'Did you think that We created you without any purpose, and that you would never be brought back to Us?" (AI-Mu'minun: 115).
"We have not created the heavens and the earth and whatever lies between them merely in sport: We have created them with the truth, but most of them do not know. For the resurrection of them all the appointed time is the Day of Decision." (Ad-Dukhan: 38-40).