Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:29
And say, "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills - let him believe; and whoever wills - let him disbelieve." Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire whose walls will surround them. And if they call for relief, they will be relieved with water like murky oil, which scalds [their] faces. Wretched is the drink, and evil is the resting place.
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 explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: وَقُلِ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ فَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيُؤْمِنْ وَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيَكْفُرْ إِنَّا أَعْتَدْنَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ نَارًا أَحَاطَ بِهِمْ سُرَادِقُهَا وَإِنْ يَسْتَغِيثُوا يُغَاثُوا بِمَاءٍ كَالْمُهْلِ يَشْوِي الْوُجُوهَ بِئْسَ الشَّرَابُ وَسَاءَتْ مُرْتَفَقًا (18:29)
Allah the Exalted says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: "Say, O Muḥammad, to those whose hearts We have turned away from Our remembrance and who followed their desires: 'The Truth, O people, is from your Lord; with Him lies the tawfīq and the leading astray, in His hand is the guidance and the misguidance — He guides whom He wills of you to the straight path so that he believes, and He leads astray from guidance whom He wills so that he becomes a disbeliever; I have no power over any of that; I do not turn away those of you who follow the truth and believe in Allah and in what has been sent down upon me; if you wish, then believe; if you wish, then disbelieve — for if you are disbelievers, your Lord has prepared for you, because of your disbelief in Him, a Fire whose surdāq surrounds you; and if you believe in Him and practice obedience to Him, then yours is what Allah has described for those who obey Him.'"
From Ibn ʿAbbās it is related what ʿAlī told me; he said: ʿAbd Allāh related to us; he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning فَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيُؤْمِنْ وَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيَكْفُرْ . He said: "Whoever Allah has given the will to believe, believes; whoever Allah has given the will to disbelieve, is a disbeliever — as in His word: وَمَا تَشَاءُونَ إِلا أَنْ يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ ." This is not a granting of license by Allah for disbelief to whoever wishes it and for belief to whoever desires it; it is nothing but a threat and a warning.
That this is so is made clear by His word: إِنَّا أَعْتَدْنَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ نَارًا and the āyāt after it.
As al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us; he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn Ḥabīb, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning فَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيُؤْمِنْ وَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيَكْفُرْ . He said: "A warning from Allah — it does not weaken me."
Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning فَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيُؤْمِنْ وَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيَكْفُرْ and اعْمَلُوا مَا شِئْتُمْ : "This is all a warning — no leniency, no kindness, no concession." His word إِنَّا أَعْتَدْنَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ نَارًا : Allah, exalted be His mention, says: "We have prepared (aʿtadnā)" — from al-ʿudda (preparation). "For the ẓālimūn": those who disbelieve in their Lord.
As Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning إِنَّا أَعْتَدْنَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ نَارًا أَحَاطَ بِهِمْ سُرَادِقُهَا : "For the disbelievers."
His word أَحَاطَ بِهِمْ سُرَادِقُهَا : the surdāq of the Fire which Allah the Exalted has prepared for those who disbelieve in Him encloses them. That is — according to the narration — a wall of fire that surrounds them like the surdāq of a tent; a surdāq is the enclosed space around a tent, as Ruʾba said:
يَا حَكَمَ بنَ المُنذِرِ بنِ الجَارُودْ سُرَادِقُ الفَضْلِ عَلَيكَ مَمْدُودْ
(O Ḥakam ibn al-Mundhir ibn al-Jārūd — the surdāq of nobility is spread out over you.)
And as Salāma ibn Jandal said:
هوَ المُولِجُ النُّعمانَ بيْتًا سَمَاؤُهُ صُدُورُ الفُيُولِ بعدَ بيتٍ مُسَرْدَقَ
(He led al-Nuʿmān into a house whose roof was the breasts of elephants — after a house with a surdāq.)
That is to say: a house provided with a surdāq.
Those who said this are mentioned below:
Al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj. He said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning إِنَّا أَعْتَدْنَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ نَارًا أَحَاطَ بِهِمْ سُرَادِقُهَا : "That is a wall of fire."
Al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of someone who reported it to him, concerning أَحَاطَ بِهِمْ سُرَادِقُهَا . He said: "Smoke that envelops the disbelievers on the Day of Resurrection — that is what Allah meant by: ظِلٍّ ذِي ثَلاثِ شُعَبٍ ."
From the Prophet ﷺ a narration is related which indicates that the meaning of أَحَاطَ بِهِمْ سُرَادِقُهَا is an enclosure in the worldly life, and that this surdāq is the sea.
Al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad and al-Ḥusayn ibn Naṣr related to us; they said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Umayya. He said: Muḥammad ibn Ḥayyī ibn Yaʿlā related to me, on the authority of Ṣafwān ibn Yaʿlā, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Umayya. He said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The sea is the Jahannam." He was asked: "How so?" Whereupon he recited this āya — or: read this āya — نَارًا أَحَاطَ بِهِمْ سُرَادِقُهَا — and then said: "By Allah, I will never enter it as long as I live, and not a drop of it will touch me."
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us; he said: Yaʿmar ibn Bishr related to us; he said: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Ṣafwān, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Busr, on the authority of Abū Umāma, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ. He said: "The surdāq of the Fire consists of four walls; the thickness of each of them is equal to a journey of forty years."
Bishr related to us; he said: Ibn Wahb related to us; he said: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me, on the authority of Darrāj, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: "The surdāq of the Fire has four walls; the thickness of each of them is equal to a journey of forty years."
Bishr related to us; he said: Ibn Wahb related to us; he said: ʿAmr informed me, on the authority of Darrāj, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said: "Water like al-muhl" — he said: "like the dregs of oil; when it is brought near to someone, the skin of his face falls into it."
His word وَإِنْ يَسْتَغِيثُوا يُغَاثُوا بِمَاءٍ كَالْمُهْلِ : Allah, exalted be His mention, says: if these ẓālimūn on the Day of Resurrection cry out in the Fire from the intense thirst that torments them, and they ask for water, they are aided with water of al-muhl.
The exegetes differed concerning al-muhl. Some said: it is everything that is melted and liquid.
Those who said this are mentioned below:
Bishr related to us; he said: Yazīd related to us; he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda. He said: "It has been related to us that a drinking vessel of gold and silver was offered to Ibn Masʿūd; he gave orders for a trench to be dug in the ground, threw wood into it, and cast that drinking vessel into it — until it frothed and melted. Then he would say to his servant: 'Summon the people of Kūfa to us.' The people came; he said: 'Do you see this?' They said: 'Yes.' He said: 'We saw in the world nothing more resembling al-muhl than this gold and silver when it frothed and melted.'"
Others said: it is pus and black blood.
Those who said this are mentioned below:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of al-Qāsim, on the authority of Abū Barza, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَإِنْ يَسْتَغِيثُوا يُغَاثُوا بِمَاءٍ كَالْمُهْلِ . He said: "Pus and blood."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us. And al-Ḥārith related to me; he said: al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning بِمَاءٍ كَالْمُهْلِ . He said: "Pus and black blood, like the dregs of oil." Al-Ḥārith added in his narration: "that is, the lees of it."
ʿAlī related to me; he said: ʿAbd Allāh related to us; he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning كَالْمُهْلِ . He said: "Black like oil."
It has been related to me, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us; he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning بِمَاءٍ كَالْمُهْلِ : "The water of the Hellfire is black; it is black, its trees are black, its inhabitants are black."
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me; he said: my father related to me; he said: my uncle related to me; he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning وَإِنْ يَسْتَغِيثُوا يُغَاثُوا بِمَاءٍ كَالْمُهْلِ . He said: "Thick water like the dregs of oil."
Others said: it is that whose heat has reached its utmost.
Those who said this are mentioned below:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar and Hārūn ibn ʿAntura, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr. He said: "Al-muhl is that whose heat has reached its utmost."
These opinions — however different their expressions — are close to one another in meaning. For: everything melted from lead, gold, or silver has reached its heat; and that over which fire has been kindled until it has become like the lees of oil has likewise reached its heat.
It has been related to me, on the authority of Maʿmar ibn al-Muthannā, that he said: I heard al-Muntajiʿ ibn Nabhān saying: "By Allah, so-and-so is more hateful to me than al-ṭalyāʾ and al-muhl." We asked him: "What are those?" He said: "Al-ṭalyāʾ: a mangy animal; al-muhl: the crusted dough that runs off the sides of the bread when one places it in the fire — like reddish fine sand." Al-muhl, then, is everything that is liquid and over which fire has been kindled until it has reached its limit of heat, or what was not liquid but melted by the fire and reached its utmost degree of heat.
His word يَشْوِي الْوُجُوهَ بِئْسَ الشَّرَابُ : Allah, exalted be His mention, says: that water with which they are aided roasts their faces.
As Muḥammad ibn Khalf al-ʿAsqalānī related to me; he said: Ḥaywa ibn Shurayḥ related to us; he said: Baqiyya related to us, on the authority of Ṣafwān ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Busr — thus said Ibn Khalf — on the authority of Abū Umāma, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, concerning وَيُسْقَى مِنْ مَاءٍ صَدِيدٍ * يَتَجَرَّعُهُ : "It is offered to him and he loathes it; when it comes near him, it roasts his face and the skin of his head falls off; when he drinks it, it severs his bowels." Allah says: وَإِنْ يَسْتَغِيثُوا يُغَاثُوا بِمَاءٍ كَالْمُهْلِ يَشْوِي الْوُجُوهَ بِئْسَ الشَّرَابُ .
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us; he said: Ibrāhīm ibn Isḥāq al-Ṭālaqānī and Yaʿmar ibn Bishr related to us; they said: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Ṣafwān, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Busr, on the authority of Abū Umāma, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ — the same.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us; he said: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar and Hārūn ibn ʿAntura, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr. Hārūn said: "When the people of the Fire are hungry" — and Jaʿfar said: "When the people of the Fire come — they seek refuge at the tree of al-zaqqūm and eat from it; the skin of their faces is stripped off; whoever passes by them and knows them recognizes the skin of their faces in it; then thirst floods over them; they cry out for help; they are aided with water like al-muhl — that whose heat has reached its utmost; when they bring it to their mouths, the flesh of their faces — whose skin had already fallen — is roasted by the heat of it."
His word بِئْسَ الشَّرَابُ : Allah, exalted be His mention, says: "How wretched is the drink" — this water with which these ẓālimūn in the Hellfire are aided, whose quality is described in this āya.
His word وَسَاءَتْ مُرْتَفَقًا : Allah, exalted be His mention, says: "How evil is this Fire which We have prepared for these ẓālimūn as a resting place." Al-murtafaq in Arabic is "the place of leaning" — one says: "irtafaqtu" when one leans; as the poet said:
قَالَتْ لَهُ وَارْتَفَقَتْ أَلا فَتًى يَسُوقُ بِالقَوْمِ غَزَالاتِ الضُّحَى
(She said to him — leaning on her elbow —: "Is there no young man who drives the people on through the early hours of the morning?")
She meant: and she leaned on her elbow. "Irtafaqa al-rajul": when someone passes the night on his elbow without falling asleep — he is then "murtafiq," as Abū Dhuʾayb al-Hudhalī said:
نَامَ الخَلِيُّ وَبِتُّ اللَّيلَ مُرْتَفِقًا كَأنَّ عَيْنِي فِيهَا الصَّابُ مَذْبُوحُ
(The carefree one slept, and I passed the night leaning on my elbow — as though in my eyes the bitter sap was incised.)
As for "al-rifq" (kindness/support) — one says: "irtafaqtu bika murtafaqan" (I leaned upon you as a support). Mujāhid explained وَسَاءَتْ مُرْتَفَقًا as "the gathering place."
Those who said this are mentioned below:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me; he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us; he said: ʿĪsā related to us. And al-Ḥārith related to me; he said: al-Ḥasan related to us; he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning مُرْتَفَقًا : "That is, a gathering place."
Yaʿqūb related to me; he said: Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَسَاءَتْ مُرْتَفَقًا . He said: "A gathering place."
Al-Qāsim related to us; he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us; he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same. But I do not know "al-irtifāq" in the sense of "coming together" in Arabic usage; al-irtifāq is af'al, derived either from al-mirfaq (elbow) or from al-rifq (kindness).