Extreme humiliation and admonishment

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IntroductionThe spiritual pain and the unending remorse

The fourth verse speaks about the humiliation of the sinners, which is a severe spiritual punishment in another manner. It is said, “Lord! Take us out from here and we shall be the unjust ones if we ever return (to evil ways)” But they will be told, “Remain there in disgrace and do not do not speak to Me.”

Every linguist and commentator has agreed that the word “Akh-sa-uu” is how one shoos away a dog and has been used here to humiliate the vain and the unjust. The term “Do not speak to me” is more humiliating because the merciful and benevolent God has decided to ignore them and not to hear their pleas. This is what we find in the prayer of Kumail that says, “O my God! Lord, Ruler and Sustainer how will I bear the separation from You even if I bear the punishment.”

Why will these people be subjected to such severe spiritual punishment? The next verses speak about it, “There used to be a group among my servants who said, “Lord! We believe so forgive us and have mercy upon us; You are the best of the merciful ones. Yet you ridiculed them and neglected remembering Me, while you even laughed at them’” (verses 109-110 of Surah Muminun)

The ridiculing of the righteous deserves that you should be humiliated and actually this is the manifestation of your deeds.”

According to the fifth verse the guards of Hell will curse and admonish the sinners in Hell. It is said:

“Those in the fire shall say to the guardians of Hell, “Beseech your Lord to reduce the torture at least for a day” They will answer, “Did not your messengers come to you with clear proofs?” They shall say, “Yes” so the guards will reply, “Beg him yourselves and the call of the disbelievers shall be in vain.”

These words will be like painful lashes for them. They had requested for a relief of just one day from the punishment but it was rejected. They asked the guards to beseech God on their behalf but the guards refused and asked them to do it because they did not deserve intercession and this too was a disgrace. The intercession could be done only with God’s permission and He did not decree it. Since this prayer would not be accepted it is useless. So the guards to not intercede or pray for them but ask them to do so (but remember that it wills not be heeded) and this too is a very painful affair.

The sixth verse describes a spiritual punishment of the sinners in Hell. It is said, “When it sights them from a distance they will hear it raging and roaring.”

The features of a wild beast are described for Hell that roars on seeing its prey in disdain. These scenes will terrify them and shake them up.

The word “tagayyuz” is derived from “Ghayz” and according to Raghib in Mafuradat means “extreme force”. The anger cannot be seen but the some features like the roaring or the bellowing can be heard. “Zafeer” means panting or huffing followed by a terrible sound that can be heard.

Some commentators who could not believe that Hell is a living entity that can see, understand and recognize the sinners were forced to be imaginative here and they said that the sight of the Hell means the vision of the guards though we know that this is unwarranted supposition. What prevents us from admitting that the Paradise and Hell too have souls and they can understand things? Some hadiths tell us that the Hell will have eyes, ears and tongue and it will catch and incarcerate the criminals like the way the birds recognize their prey.(1)

Today we see that the computers monitor the CCTV cameras to analyze what goes on inside a building and this may be the same for Hell but with the addition that it is able to understand things.

Another side of the sinners in Hell is shown in the seventh verse. The verse addresses the believers in and says: “O believers! Save yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is people and stones?”

This tells us that the fire of Hell will be very different from the fires in this world. The word “Hijaara” may mean the marble busts or things made out of it or the fire that emanates from the atoms of these stones. Some parts of it will come from the humans like faith and their ill intentions or from the sinful limbs or from the stones they declared to be their gods or from the stones used in making palaces or decoration pieces to adorn these palaces for pomp and vanity.

The verse further states, “ Its fuel is people and stones, over which are angels, severe and mighty who do not disobey when God has commanded them for they carry out the commands.”

These severe angels will be another source of torment for the sinners in Hell and will seal the paths of salvation against them.

There were the people who always oppressed those under them. Their cruel subordinates used to oppress the people and cruelty was a part of their lives so today they are subjected to such a treatment.

The notable point is that in the next verse the Qura’n says, “O unbelievers! Make no excuses today and you are being paid for you did.”

Some commentators could not imagine the fire coming out of the stones so they said the verse speaks about sulphor which catches fire after contacting iron. Today we know that every material thing consists of atoms and can combust into great flames.

The word “Ghilaaqun” is the plural of “ghaleez’ and Shidaad is the plural of Shadeed and they mean the same. They may have been mentioned together for emphasis but some people have said that “Ghilaaz” means severity in words and reflect the anger. The angels are explicitly obedient to the divine commandments and never go against them. Some have also said that it is a spiritual disgrace for mankind to be termed equal to wood and stones. (2)

The 8th verse speaks about the terrifying dialogue between those in paradise and those in Hell and it is very painful for the latter.

It says: “The inhabitants of Paradise will call out to those in Hell fire, “We found the promise of our Lord to be true; did you find what your Lord promised to be true?”

They will hang their heads in shame and say “Yes but we unfortunately were proud and ignorant.”

Then a crier from amongst them will shout: “Then a crier from their midst will shout “May the curse of God be upon the wrong doers.” These words will act like salt on wounds and the fire of remorse will burn in them.

(like it is said in the next verse) these will be the people who waylaid others from the path of God so they will be very far from God’s mercy ( the curse is always far from God’s mercy).

Who is this crier who stands between Paradise and Hell and whose voice will be heard by every one for he will speak on behalf of God? The Shias and Sunnis have many hadiths about this that he will be Amirul Mumineen Ali Ibn Abi Talib who has spent his whole life fighting the unjust oppressors.

It is seems strange that some biased people have tried to underscore this greatness and said that this does not enhance the status of Hazrat Ali. It is evident that such a divine crier should be a great one who is above Paradise and Hell for he will deliver god’s message to the entire mankind.

In short we can say that man is the combination of soul and body and the resurrection will also have two sides and the rewards and punishments will be similar. Those in Hell will face not only physical but mental torture also and their severity will be extreme for them with unlimited pain, sufferings, infamy, remorse for past deeds and the comparison with the comfort of those in Paradise ; the severe guards, the various admonishments and rebukes will make them suffer spiritually for an unlimited period.

Indeed, these punishments will be in conformity with the deeds they did in this world. They used to suppress the people in various ways and be unjust to them, they made fun of the signs of God and also of the godly people; the ridiculed the believers and acted vainly before one and all. If they see their deeds in the hereafter and suffer the consequences then they will only be reaping what they sowed in this world.

 


 

1. See Tafsir ‘Qartabi and Tafsir Ruhul Ma’ani for this verse.
2. Tafsir fi Zalal-ol-Qura’n vol.8 page 168

 

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