Tafseer of The Pilgrimage · Al-Hajj · 22:20
By which is melted that within their bellies and [their] skins.
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.
As for His words يُصْهَرُ بِهِ مَا فِي بُطُونِهِمْ وَالْجُلُودُ (whereby what is in their bellies and their skins is melted): He means: by the scalding water that is poured over their heads, whatever fat is in their bellies is melted away, and their skins are roasted by it until they fall off. Al-ṣahr means melting; one says: ṣahartu al-alya bi-l-nār — when one melts the tail-fat in the fire — aṣharuhā ṣahran. From this is derived the word in the verse of the poet:
تَرْوِي لَقًى أُلْقِيَ فِي صَفْصَفٍ تَصْهَرُهُ الشَّمْسُ وَلا يَنْصَهِرْ
(It quenches the thirst of an abandoned [fledgling] laid down on a plain; the sun melts it, yet it does not melt away.)
And from this too is derived the word in the verse of the rajaz-poet:
شَكَّ السَّفافِيدِ الشَّوَاءَ الْمُصْطَهَرْ
(He pierced upon the skewers the roasted meat that has been melted.)
In the direction of what we have said about this the exegetes spoke.
Mention of who said that: Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the words يُصْهَرُ بِهِ : he said: it is melted completely.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, likewise. Ibn Jurayj said concerning يُصْهَرُ بِهِ : he said: it is the [kind of] punishment that has been cut out for them.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: يُصْهَرُ بِهِ مَا فِي بُطُونِهِمْ : he said: what is in their bellies is melted by it.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, likewise.
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 His words: فَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا قُطِّعَتْ لَهُمْ ثِيَابٌ مِنْ نَارٍ … up to His words: يُصْهَرُ بِهِ مَا فِي بُطُونِهِمْ وَالْجُلُودُ : he said: they are given to drink something which, when it enters their bellies, melts them together with the skins.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar and Hārūn ibn ʿAnkaba, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said — Hārūn said: when the people of the Fire are driven; and Jaʿfar said: when the people of the Fire grow hungry — they take refuge in the zaqqūm-tree and eat of it, whereupon the skins of their faces are torn off; were passersby who knew them to pass by, they would recognize the skins of their faces in it. Then they are seized by thirst and seek help; they are given water like molten metal (al-muhl), which has reached its full heat. When they bring it to their mouths, the flesh of their faces, whose skin had already fallen off, is roasted by its heat. يُصْهَرُ بِهِ مَا فِي بُطُونِهِمْ — that is to say: their entrails — and their skins fall off. Then they are struck with iron rods, so that every limb falls in its turn, and they cry out for destruction and ruin.