50وَلَو تَرىٰ إِذ يَتَوَفَّى الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا ۙ المَلائِكَةُ يَضرِبونَ وُجوهَهُم وَأَدبارَهُم وَذوقوا عَذابَ الحَريقِMuhammad AsadAND IF thou couldst but see [how it will be] when He causes those who are bent on denying the truth to die: the angels will strike their faces: and their backs,1 and [will say]: "Taste suffering through fireOr: "... when the angels gather in death those who were bent on denying the truth, they strike...", etc. - depending on whether one attributes the pronoun in yatawaffa to the angels, which gives the reading "they gather [them] in death", or to God, in which case it means "He causes [them] to die" (Zamakhshari and Razi).- The beating of the sinners' faces and backs is - according to Razi, an allegory of their suffering in the life to come in consequence of their having denied the truth while alive in this world: "They have utter darkness behind them and utter darkness before them - and this is the meaning of the words, '[the angels] strike their faces and their backs'." Most of the commentators assume that this passage refers specifically to the pagan Quraysh who fell in the battle of Badr; but while it undoubtedly does apply to them, there is no reason, in my opinion. to restrict its import to this particular historical event - especially in view of the subsequent passages (up to and including verse 55), which obviously refer to all who are "bent on denying the truth".