Tafseer of Abraham · Ibrahim · 14:50
Their garments of liquid pitch and their faces covered by the Fire.
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.
The Exalted — exalted be His renown — says: and the unbelievers in Allah, who in the worldly life committed the ascribing of associates to Allah (shirk), will on that day — that is: the day on which the earth is changed into another earth and the heavens — behold one another while they are مُقَرَّنِينَ فِي الْأَصْفَادِ: chained to one another, their hands and feet bound to their necks with the aṣfād, which are the fetters in the form of iron collars and chains. Its singular is ṣafad; one says: ṣafadtuhu fi-l-ṣafad ṣafdan wa-ṣifādan (I shackled him in the fetter). The ṣifād is the chain. From this is the saying of ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm:
"They returned with the booty and the captives / and we returned with the kings, clapped in fetters."
Whoever regards the singular as ṣifād forms the plural as ṣufud, not aṣfād. As for the meaning "gift, present" — then one says: aṣfadtuhu iṣfādan (I bestowed a gift upon him), as al-Aʿshā said:
"I visited him one day and he honored my seat / and bestowed upon me, at the time of weakness, a guide."
For the meaning "gift" it has also been said: ṣafadanī ṣafdan, as al-Nābigha al-Dhubyānī said:
"This is the praise — if you hear its speaker / I have not exposed you to the gift."
In agreement with what we have said concerning the meaning of مُقَرَّنِينَ فِي الْأَصْفَادِ the exegetes spoke.
Mention of who said that:
Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning مُقَرَّنِينَ فِي الْأَصْفَادِ: he said: in fetters.
Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā al-Dāmighānī related to me, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: he said: the aṣfād are the chains.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning مُقَرَّنِينَ فِي الْأَصْفَادِ: he said: chained to one another in chains and collars.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Hāshim ibn al-Barīd related to us, saying: I heard al-Aʿmash say: the ṣafad is the chain.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning مُقَرَّنِينَ فِي الْأَصْفَادِ: he said: their hands, feet, and necks are shackled therein; the aṣfād are the collars.
His saying سَرَابِيلُهُم مِّن قَطِرَانٍ: their shirts that they wear, the singular of which is sirbāl, as Imruʾ al-Qays said:
"A playful woman who makes me forget, when I rise, my shirt."
