The Light of the Holy Qur'an Interpretation of Sura Al-furqan

Commentary : Verse 12.13

  1. إِذَا رَأَتْهُم مِن مَكَانٍ بَعِيدٍ سَمِعُوا لَهَا تَغَيُّظاً وَزَفِير

  2. وَإِذَآ اُلْقُوا مِنْهَا مَكَاناً ضَيّـِقاً مُقَرَّنِينَ دَعَوْا هُنَالِكَ ثُبُور

  3. " When it sees them from a far place, they will hear its raging and roaring."

  4. " And when they are cast, coupled in fetters, into a narrow place of that Fire, they will call out there for destruction.'

Commentary:

The Qur'anic word /taqayyuz/ means declaring one's anger and intensity of wrath which is sometimes along with sound and voice. The Arabic word /zafir/ means the sound of breathing when the chest is constricted because of abundance of sorrow. The Qur'anic word /muqarranin/ means to fasten with fetter and chain. The word /oubur/ means to express woe and regret.

In this verse, a strange description is provided for this blazing fire. It says:

" When it sees them from a far place, they will hear its raging and roaring."

In this statement there are several clear meanings which show how severe the divine punishment is:

  1. The verse does not say that they see the Fire from afar, but it says that Fire sees them, as if it has eye and ear and looks forward them and expects these wrongdoers!

  2. It does not need that they come near it in order to be fermented, but it cries out of anger from a long distance. Some narrations say that the distance is as long as one year of walking.

  3. The word /taqayyuz/ is used to describe this Fire, which is a status in which man expresses his fury by means of cry and clamour.

  4. The word /zafir/ is used to describe the Fire. It is like the situation in which man inhales and the ribs come up, and this is usually when man is very angry.

All of the above explanations show that the blazing Fire is like a brutal beast that awaits its prey. This waiting drags this group, (we take refuge in Allah!)

That is the condition of Fire when it sees them from a long distance, but the next verse describes their condition when they are in the Hell Fire, by saying:

" And when they are cast, coupled in fetters, into a narrow place of that Fire, they will call out there for destruction."

This is not because the Hell is small, since, according to the 30th verse of Sura Qaf, No. 50, the Qur'an says: "On the Day (when) We say unto Hell: 'Are you filled up?' And it says: 'Are there any more?"

Thus, Hell is a very vast place but they are so confined in it that, in some narration we read that their entrance into the Hell is like entering a nail into a wall.[^1]

Meanwhile, the Qur'anic word /oubur/ originally means 'decay and destruction'. When a man fears from something terrible or horrific, he cries: /wa oabura/ which means: 'woe to me.'

[^1] Majma'-ul-Bayan, following the verse

Commentary : Verse 14

  1. لاَ تَدْعُوا الْيَوْمَ ثُبُوراً وَاحِداً وَادْعُوا ثُبُوراً كَثِير

  2. " (It will be said to them:) 'Call not this day for one destruction, but call for many destructions!"

Commentary:

This verse implies that they must not say /wa oAbira/ for one time, but they must say it many times. The verse says:

"(It will be said to them:) 'Call not this day for one destruction, but call for many destructions!"

Anyway, their cry and moaning does not have any result and there will be no death or destruction, but they must remain alive and experience painful chastisements.

This verse is in fact like the 16th verse of Sura At-Tur, No. 52, which says: "Endure the heat thereof, and whether you are patient of it or impatient of it is all one for you. You are only being paid for what you used to do."

That who tells such words to pagans, the context shows that angels of chastisement do this, because they deal with pagans.

But why they are told that they must not say /wa oabura/ for one time, but they must say it many times, perhaps it is because their painful chastisement is not temporal that it ends with saying this phrase one time, but they must always repeat it during this period. Moreover the divine punishment that is for these criminals is so miscellaneous that they face their death by experiencing each of these punishments and they cry /wa oabura/ each time. It seems that they die and become alive successively.

The Prophet(p.b.u.h.) in a tradition says:"The people of the Hell are under pressure like nail in wall."[^1] Its reason is that: ignoring Allah leads to desperate straits in this world and the other world. Concerning what they have in this world, "... He makes his breast narrow and straitened..."[^2],and:"And whoever turns away from My remembrance, verily for him is a life straitened, ..."[^3], and in the other world, "And when they are cast, coupled in fetters, into a narrow place of that Fire ..".[^4]

On the contrary, paying attention to Allah and having faith in Him, is the cause of calmness and peacefulness both in this world: "We would have certainly opened up for them blessings from the heaven and the earth..."[^5] and the other world "...when they reach it, the gates thereof are opened...".[^6] In another occurrence, the Qur'an says: "Is one who follows the pleasure of Allah like him who incurs wrath from Allah, and whose abode will be Hell? And an evil destination it is! "[^7]

There has been narrated from Imam Sadiq, the sixth Imam (a.s.), who said: "The Hell has got 7 gates. From one of them our enemies and those who fight and belittle us enter. Certainly this gate is the greatest and the most blazing one."[^8]

The Prophet (p.b.u.h.) says: "The fire of this world is one part of the seventy parts of the Hell Fire. Each of those parts has got its own heat."[^9]

[^1] Majma'-ul-Bayan, the commentary, following the verse

[^2] Sura Al-'An'am, No. 6, verse 125

[^3] Sura Ta-Ha, No. 20, verse 124

[^4] Sura Furqan, No. 25, verse 13

[^5] Sura Al-Abraham'raf, No. 7, verse 96

[^6] Sura Az-Zumar, No. 39, verse 73

[^7] Sura 'al-i-'Imran, No. 3, verse 162

[^8] Bihar, Vol. 8, p. 261

[^9] Kanz-ul-'Ummal, 39477

Imam Ali (a.s.) once says: "One who enters the Hell is miserable for ever."[^1]

The Prophet (p.b.u.h.) says: "The least punishment of the people of the Hell is wearing a blazing pair of shoes on the Day of Hereafter that are so hot that their brain begins to boil from them."[^2]

Imam Ali(a.s.) says: "Fear the Fire the heat of which is too much,and its bottom is very deep and its ornament is iron, and its beverage is boiling fetid water (blood mixed with filth)."[^3]

[^1] Qurar-ul-Hikam, 10892

[^2] Muhajjat-ul-Bayza, Vol. 8, p. 356

[^3] Bihar, Vol. 8, p. 208, taken from Nahj-ul-Balaqah