85فَلَم يَكُ يَنفَعُهُم إيمانُهُم لَمّا رَأَوا بَأسَنا ۖ سُنَّتَ اللَّهِ الَّتي قَد خَلَت في عِبادِهِ ۖ وَخَسِرَ هُنالِكَ الكافِرونَMuhammad AsadBut their attaining to faith after they had beheld Our punishment could not possibly benefit them1 - such being the way of God that has always obtained for His creatures -: and so, then and there, lost were they who had denied the truth.2I.e., firstly, because this belated faith could not unmake a reality which had already come into being,and, secondly, because it could not contribute to their spiritual growth inasmuch as it was not an outcome of free choice but had been, rather, forced on them hy the shock of an irreversible calamity.The "way of God" (sunnat Allah) is the Qur'anic term for the totality of natural laws instituted by the Creator: in this case, the law that faith has no spiritual value unless it arises out of a genuine, inner enlightenment.