Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:10
Indeed, those who disbelieve - never will their wealth or their children avail them against Allah at all. And it is they who are fuel for 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.
Discussion of the explanation of His word: "Indeed, those who disbelieve — neither their possessions nor their children will avail them anything against Allah, and they are the fuel of the Fire" (3:10)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by His word "Indeed, those who disbelieve": indeed, those who have denied the truth which they had already recognized — namely the prophethood of Muḥammad ﷺ — among the Jews of the Banū Isrāʾīl and their hypocrites (munāfiqīn), and the hypocrites and disbelievers among the Arabs, those in whose hearts is deviation, so that they follow the ambiguous of the Book of Allah, thereby seeking trial (fitna) and its arbitrary interpretation = "neither their possessions nor their children will avail them anything against Allah," by which He means that their possessions and their children will not save them from the punishment of Allah, if He should cause it to descend upon them — immediately in this world, on account of their denial of the truth after it had become clear to them,
and their following of the ambiguous, thereby seeking confusion — such that those [possessions and children] would ward off that [punishment] from them; but they avail them nothing of that, and in the Hereafter they are = "the fuel of the Fire," by which He means: the firewood thereof.
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The footnotes:
(1) In the printed edition it reads "after they were confirmed," which has no meaning. In the manuscript it reads "confirmation" without diacritical points, and what I have established is the correct reading of it.
(2) See the explanation of "al-wuqūd" (the fuel) in what was treated earlier, 1: 380.