Tafseer of The Spider · Al-Ankaboot · 29:55
On the Day the punishment will cover them from above them and from below their feet and it is said, "Taste [the result of] what you used to do."
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 statement of the Exalted: On the Day the punishment will cover them from above them and from beneath their feet, and He will say: Taste what you used to do (29:55).
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: And indeed, Hell (jahannam) will surely encompass the disbelievers (kāfirīn) on the Day when the punishment will cover the disbelievers, from above them in Hell (jahannam), and from beneath their feet.
As Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: On the Day the punishment will cover them from above them and from beneath their feet: that is, in the Fire (al-nār).
And His statement: And He will say: Taste what you used to do says, exalted is His praise: and Allah will say to them: taste what you used to do in the worldly life of acts of disobedience toward Allah, and of that with which He is angered. And with the yāʾ in wa-yaqūlu dhūqū (and He will say: Taste) the majority of the reciters of the regions have read, with the exception of Abū Jaʿfar and Abū ʿAmr, for they both read it with the nūn: wa-naqūlu (and We will say). And the reading that with us is the correct reading is with the yāʾ, because of the agreement of the authoritative body of the reciters upon it.
