Tafseer of The Calamity · Al-Qaari'a · 101:9
His refuge will be an abyss.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ ("then his mother is the Hāwiya"): he said: "His abode is the Fire — that is the Hāwiya." Qatāda said: "It is an Arabic expression; when a man fell into a grave matter, they would say: 'his mother has mourned' (hawat ummuhu)."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ashʿath ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Aʿmā, who said: "When a believer dies, his soul is brought to the souls of the believers. Then they say: 'Give your brother rest, for he was in the tribulation of the world.' He said: And they ask him: 'What has so-and-so done?' Then he answers: 'He has died — or has he not yet arrived among you?' Then they say: 'He has been taken away to his mother, the Hāwiya.'"
Ismāʿīl ibn Sayf al-ʿIjlī related to me, saying: ʿAlī ibn Mushhir related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His word فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ: he said: "They plunge down into the Fire upon their heads."
Ibn Sayf related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Sawwār related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ: he said: "He plunges down into the Fire upon his head."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ: "The Hāwiya is the Fire — it is his mother and his dwelling place to which he returns and in which he seeks shelter." And he recited: وَمَأْوَاهُمُ النَّارُ ("and their dwelling place is the Fire").
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ: "And that is the likeness of it. The Fire was called his mother only because it has become his dwelling place, just as a woman gives shelter to her child. So the Fire, for him — now that he has no dwelling place other than it — is set in the position of a mother to him."
