Verses 49–64
This is another section discussing the fate of the reverent and the transgressors, offering glad tidings and warnings.
Commentary
هَٰذَا ذِكْرٌ ۚ وَإِنَّ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ لَحُسْنَ مَآبٍ ٤٩
(38:49) This is a reminder, and the reverent shall meet a happy journey’s end.
This refers to the stories of the noble prophets who turned towards God which were previously mentioned. Reminder (dhikr) refers to the honor and praise they enjoyed, meaning, the ones whose names have lived on handsomely and beauteously; they shall be honored in this world evermore and shall bask in divine reward in the next.
Thus, exegetes say:
The reverent (muttaqīn) refers specifically to the prophets mentioned earlier in this chapter, or all the reverent, of whom the prophets are a subgroup. The mention of the final abode of the transgressors, here, acts as an aside.
However, it [seems as if it is more] apparent that this refers to the Qur’an, and dhikr refers to its contents which act as a remembrance, especially since, at the beginning of this chapter, the word dhikr is used to refer to the Qur’an, in the verse By the Qur’an, full of remembrance (wal-qurʾān dhī al-dhikr, ). Then, the chapter tells of what lies in the hereafter: reward for the reverent and punishment for the transgressors.
The reverent shall meet a happy journey’s end (maʾāb): A maʾāb is a place that one returns to. It is indefinite here to lend it a sense of enormity. The meaning is clear.
جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ مُفَتَّحَةً لَهُمُ الْأَبْوَابُ ٥٠
(38:50) Everlasting gardens, whose doors are thrown open to them,
Meaning, an eternal abode and eternal life there. “Opening the doors to them” is a figure of speech indicating that nothing will keep them from the delights found in them, for these shall be readied for them, created for their sake.
Some exegetes say that “opening the doors to them” means that they will not have to wait or knock on them. Other exegetes say that it describes the doors: they are doors that can be opened without any key or locked without any lock.
This verse and the next describe their happy abode.
مُتَّكِئِينَ فِيهَا يَدْعُونَ فِيهَا بِفَاكِهَةٍ كَثِيرَةٍ وَشَرَابٍ ٥١
(38:51) Reclining therein, calling for plenteous fruits and drink.
Meaning, they will be reclining luxuriantly in it—something which gives the sense of honor and nobility.
Calling for plenteous fruits and drink…: Meaning that, there, they will have the authority to call for fruits—which are plentiful—and drink. Whenever they ask for a fruit or a drink, it will be brought to them without them having to exert any effort to procure it or get up and get it.
وَعِنْدَهُمْ قَاصِرَاتُ الطَّرْفِ أَتْرَابٌ ٥٢
(38:52) With them shall be [female companions] of modest gaze, equal in age.
Them refers to the reverent. Of modest gaze (qāṣirat al-ṭarf) is an adjective acting as a noun for the thing it is describing. It means that they shall have consorts of modest gaze. Of modest gaze either implies that they will be happy with their partners and have eyes only for them, or it is a figure of speech indicating that they will be coy and coquettish.
Atrāb means that they will be peers (aqrān). That is, they will be similar in age or handsomeness to their partners. It could also mean that they reflect their partner’s light and splendor; whenever their partners’ light and splendor brightens, they shall grow even more beautiful.
هَٰذَا مَا تُوعَدُونَ لِيَوْمِ الْحِسَابِ ٥٣
(38:53) This is what you have been promised for the Day of Accounting!
This refers to what was said about the gardens and their delights. It shifts to the second person to convey a sense of nearness and honor towards them, to polish off their manifest, materialized blessings with these spiritual blessings.
إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَرِزْقُنَا مَا لَهُ مِنْ نَفَادٍ ٥٤
(38:54) This is Our sustenance; it shall never dwindle away (nafād).
Nafād means “perish”, “extinguish”, or “run out”. Read in light of the text, this verse comes across as a conclusion to the sentiment in the previous verse.
هَٰذَا ۚ وَإِنَّ لِلطَّاغِينَ لَشَرَّ مَآبٍ ٥٥
(38:55) Thus it shall be. But the transgressors shall meet an evil journey’s end.
Thus refers to what was said about the happy end for the reverent. Possibly, it can also be taken in the sense of a verb (ism fiʿl); for instance, “Take this.”
The rest of the verse is clear.
جَهَنَّمَ يَصْلَوْنَهَا فَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ ٥٦
(38:56) Hell—they shall burn in it (yaṣlawnahā); what an evil resting-place (mihād)!
Yaṣlawnahā means that they shall enter the fire and endure its heat or aftereffects. According to Majmaʿ al-Bayān, mihād means “a bed that is laid out”. The expression “I laid this bed for him in the best way (mahadtu lahu tamhīdan)” means “I prepared this for him nicely”. This and the next verse elaborate on what is lying in wait for the transgressors.
هَٰذَا فَلْيَذُوقُوهُ حَمِيمٌ وَغَسَّاقٌ ٥٧
(38:57) Thus it shall be. So let them imbibe boiling and oozing pus (ḥamīmun wa ghassāq),
Ḥamīm means “scorching”. According to Majmaʿ al-Bayān, ghassāq means “fetid, stinking pus”; it has also been explained in other ways. Boiling and oozing pus (ḥamīmun wa ghassāq) explains what is meant by this. Let them imbibe implies that they will not want to drink the boiling and oozing pus but will forced to. This sense is reinforced by the construction of the sentence, in that the object—boiling and oozing pus—is referred to by the demonstrative pronoun this, and the object—this—comes before the verb [whereas, usually, it would come afterwards]. All in all, it means, “This boiling ooze and pus—they have to drink it—they have no choice!”
وَآخَرُ مِنْ شَكْلِهِ أَزْوَاجٌ ٥٨
(38:58) And other similar things (min shaklihi), of the same type!
Shakl means “a thing that resembles another and is of the same sort.” Azwāj means “types” (anwāʿ) or “categories” (aqsām). It means, “Here is something else, of the same type as the boiling and oozing fluids. There is a diverse feast of them; now you must drink them!”
هَٰذَا فَوْجٌ مُقْتَحِمٌ مَعَكُمْ ۖ لَا مَرْحَبًا بِهِمْ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ صَالُو النَّارِ ٥٩ قَالُوا بَلْ أَنْتُمْ لَا مَرْحَبًا بِكُمْ ۖ أَنْتُمْ قَدَّمْتُمُوهُ لَنَا ۖ فَبِئْسَ الْقَرَارُ ٦٠ قَالُوا رَبَّنَا مَنْ قَدَّمَ لَنَا هَٰذَا فَزِدْهُ عَذَابًا ضِعْفًا فِي النَّارِ ٦١
(38:59–61) This troop storming blindly in with you—no welcome for them! They shall burn in the Fire. They shall say, “You—no welcome for you! You offered this to us, so evil be your abode.” They will say, “Our Lord! Punish twice in the Fire whoever offered this to us!”
A straightforward reading from the text indicates that these three verses foretell how vicious leaders and their followers will quarrel in the Fire.
This troop storming in blindly with you: This addresses the leaders. The demonstrative pronoun this implies that the leaders and their followers shall descend upon hell in a single battalion. Muqtaḥim means “storming in” or “bursting in” with vehemence and force.
No welcome for them! The leaders shall say this in reply to this troop storming in blindly with you. Welcome (marḥaban) is a greeting offered to someone who is arriving somewhere; it means “welcoming someone into one’s home”. No welcome for them means they shall not be welcomed warmly or accommodated.
They shall burn in the Fire: Meaning, they shall enter the fire and taste its heat or other effects. This builds on what is meant by “no welcome”.
They shall say, “You—no welcome for you! You offered this to us, so evil be your abode”: The followers will say to in reply their leaders, denying them any welcome and blaming them for bringing them to the Fire.
They will say, “Our Lord! Punish twice in the Fire whoever offered this to us!” God does not tell us here what the leaders say in response. However, it is mentioned in Sūrah al-Ṣāffāt when it tells of how they shall dispute:
They will say, “No, you were not believers. And we had no authority over you; you were a rebellious people ().
It is after they have finished arguing that they ask God to punish these people twofold.
Whoever offered this to us is a conditional phrase [along the lines of “if someone offered this to us, then punish them twice”]. Twice (ḍiʿfan) means “two of the same”. Therefore, punish twice means to serve them a double helping of torment.
وَقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لَا نَرَىٰ رِجَالًا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ مِنَ الْأَشْرَارِ ٦٢
(38:62) And they shall say, “Why do we not see men whom we considered vicious?
From the text, it can be understood that the dwellers in Hell are the ones saying this. By men, they are referring those whom the faithful thought were evil. However, they are in Paradise! They are looking for them in the Fire but cannot find them anywhere.
أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الْأَبْصَارُ ٦٣
(38:63) Did we [just misjudge and] mock them, or have our eyes missed them?”
Meaning, did we err by making light of them when we were alive, whereas they have found salvation? Or did our eyes simply falter, and we simply did not see them, although they are in the Fire?
إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ لَحَقٌّ تَخَاصُمُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ ٦٤
(38:64) Thus be the truth—the way the Hell-dwellers shall wrangle!
Thus (dhālik) refers to what was said about how they shall dispute. The use this word indicates that it is an established fact that the Hell-dwellers shall bicker with each other. There is no doubt in that, for it is, in essence, a manifestation of the trait lurking within themselves while alive—the propensity to feud and fight.
Obviously, there was no such thing as automatic doors in the classical Islamic era, but it is interesting to consider how many modern innovations mimic the descriptions of Paradise. [Trans.] ↩︎
Although qāṣirāt is an adjective, it is in the feminine plural, thus indicating that it refers to women. [Trans.] ↩︎
Of course, all inhabitants of heaven will be beautiful and handsome, regardless of how they looked in the material world! [Trans.] ↩︎
Presumably, ʿAllāmah means to say that it expresses how near God is to them, although, possibly, he could also have meant that it shows how near the delights of the garden are to them. [Trans.] ↩︎
As opposed to “pairs” or “mates”, which is another meaning for the word. [Trans.] ↩︎
This explanation by ʿAllāmah follows along the lines of the belief that, in the hereafter, people’s inner traits or good or evil deeds shall become visible and obvious to all. [Trans.] ↩︎