10إِلّا مَن خَطِفَ الخَطفَةَ فَأَتبَعَهُ شِهابٌ ثاقِبٌMuhammad Asadbut if anyone1 does succeed in snatching a glimpse [of such knowledge], he is [henceforth] pursued by a piercing flame.2Lit., "excepting [or "except that"] anyone who ...", etc. However, as pointed out by some authorities (e.g., Mughni), the particle illa is occasionally synonymous with the simple conjunction wa, which in this case has the significance of "but".For the meaning of this phrase, see note 17 on 15:18. After the stress on God's oneness in verses 4-5, the passage comprising verses 6-10 points to the fact that human beings are precluded from really grasping the variety and depth of the universe created by Him. We have here an echo of 34:9 - "Are they, then, not aware of how little of the sky and the earth lies open before them, and how much is hidden from them?" and, thus, a new, oblique approach to the theme of resurrection, which is taken up in the sequence in the form of an indirect question.