Tafseer of The Believers · Al-Muminoon · 23:108
He will say, "Remain despised therein and do not speak to Me.
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.
His statement قَالَ اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا — He — exalted be His praise — says: the Lord answered them — exalted be His praise. اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا — that is to say: remain in the Fire. One says of this: khasaʾtu fulānan akhsaʾuhu khasʾan wa-khusūʾan (I cast so-and-so down and drove him off), and khasiya huwa yakhsaʾu (he was cast down) — he was not previously cast down and now he is cast down. وَلا تُكَلِّمُونِ — and after these words the wretched ones lost all hope of deliverance, whereas before that they had still been hopeful.
As Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Kuhayl, who said: Abū al-Zaʿrāʾ related to me, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh — in an account concerning the intercession (shafāʿa) — who said: when Allah wills that no one further be taken out of the Fire, He changes their faces and their colours, and then the believing man comes to plead for them. He says: O Lord — whereupon [Allah] says: whoever recognizes anyone, let him take him out. Then the man looks around but recognizes no one, and he says: O so-and-so, O so-and-so — but the other says: I do not know you. At that moment they say: رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْهَا فَإِنْ عُدْنَا فَإِنَّا ظَالِمُونَ — and [Allah] says: اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا وَلا تُكَلِّمُونِ . After they had said this, Hell (jahannam) closed over them — and no human being ever leaves it thereafter.
Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir related to us, saying: Isḥāq informed us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Maʿdī Karib, on the authority of Abī al-Dardāʾ, who said: hunger is poured out or sent upon the people of the Fire until it equals the torment they undergo. They cry out for help and are fed with al-ḍarīʿ — which neither satisfies nor avails against hunger. That helps them nothing, so that they cry out for help again. They are fed with food that sticks in the throat (dhū ghuṣṣa), and when they eat it, it lodges in their throats. They then recall that in the world they used to wash down choking morsels with water, and they cry out for help. Then the boiling water (ḥamīm) is brought up to them on iron hooks. When it approaches their faces it scorches their faces, and when they drink it, it cuts through their intestines. Then they call out to Mālik: لِيَقْضِ عَلَيْنَا رَبُّكَ . He keeps them waiting a thousand years and then answers them: إِنَّكُمْ مَاكِثُونَ . Then they call out to the keepers of Hell (jahannam): ادْعُوا رَبَّكُمْ يُخَفِّفْ عَنَّا يَوْمًا مِنَ الْعَذَابِ — they answer: أَوَ لَمْ تَكُ تَأْتِيكُمْ رُسُلُكُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ قَالُوا بَلَى قَالُوا فَادْعُوا وَمَا دُعَاءُ الْكَافِرِينَ إِلا فِي ضَلالٍ . Then they say: we find no one better for us than our Lord. They call out to their Lord: رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْهَا فَإِنْ عُدْنَا فَإِنَّا ظَالِمُونَ . Allah then says: اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا وَلا تُكَلِّمُونِ . At that moment they lost all hope of any good, and they broke out in wailing, lamentation, and cries of misery.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī related to me, saying: ʿĀṣim ibn Yūsuf al-Yarbūʿī related to us, saying: Quṭba ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Asadī related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Shimr ibn ʿAṭiyya, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Umm al-Dardāʾ, on the authority of Abī al-Dardāʾ, who said: the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said: "Hunger is cast upon the people of the Fire…" and he mentioned a similar account.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, on the authority of Hārūn ibn ʿAntara, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, who said: the people of the Fire see the leg of Mālik, the keeper of the Fire, once every seventy years, and they say: يَا مَالِكُ لِيَقْضِ عَلَيْنَا رَبُّكَ . He answers them with a single word, and after that they do not see him for seventy years. They then implore the keepers: ادْعُوا رَبَّكُمْ يُخَفِّفْ عَنَّا يَوْمًا مِنَ الْعَذَابِ — they answer them: أَوَ لَمْ تَكُ تَأْتِيكُمْ رُسُلُكُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ … the verse. Then they say: call upon your Lord, for none is more merciful than your Lord. Then they call out to their Lord: رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْهَا فَإِنْ عُدْنَا فَإِنَّا ظَالِمُونَ . He answers them: اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا وَلا تُكَلِّمُونِ . After that they lost all hope of any good, and they broke out in wailing, lamentation, and cries of misery.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا وَلا تُكَلِّمُونِ — he said: it has been transmitted to us that they call out to Mālik and say: لِيَقْضِ عَلَيْنَا رَبُّكَ . He keeps silent toward them for forty years, then he says: إِنَّكُمْ مَاكِثُونَ . After that they call out to their Lord, and He keeps silent toward them for twice the duration of the world, then He says: اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا وَلا تُكَلِّمُونِ . The people fall into silence thereafter and speak no word after that. There remained only groaning and sobbing. Qatāda said: the sound of the unbeliever (kāfir) in the Fire is like the sound of a donkey: first an exhalation of breath (zafīr) and then an indrawing (shahīq).
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda — something similar to it.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĪsā related to us, saying: Ziyād al-Khurāsānī informed me — and he attributed it to one of the scholars, whom he forgot to name — concerning His statement اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا وَلا تُكَلِّمُونِ : he said: they fell silent. He said: nothing more was heard therein than a hissing like that of a metal basin (ṭast).
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 statement اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا وَلا تُكَلِّمُونِ : these are the words of the Merciful — exalted be He — at the moment when their conversation with Him was cut off.
