Tafseer of Those drawn up in Ranks · As-Saaffaat · 37:55
And he will look and see him in the midst of the Hellfire.
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.
And His statement فَاطَّلَعَ فَرَآهُ فِي سَوَاءِ الْجَحِيمِ ("Then he looked down and saw him in the midst of the Hellfire") means: then he looked down into the Fire (al-nār) and saw him in the midst of the blazing fire (al-jaḥīm). In the statement something has been omitted whose mention was deemed unnecessary, because the wording already indicates it, namely: they said: yes.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning the interpretation of His statement فَاطَّلَعَ فَرَآهُ فِي سَوَاءِ الْجَحِيمِ ("Then he looked down and saw him in the midst of the blazing fire"), the interpreters have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement فِي سَوَاءِ الْجَحِيمِ ("in the midst of the blazing fire"), he means: in the middle of the blazing fire.
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: فِي سَوَاءِ الْجَحِيمِ ("in the midst of the blazing fire"), he means: in the middle of the blazing fire.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: ʿAbbād ibn Rāshid related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement فِي سَوَاءِ الْجَحِيمِ ("in the midst of the blazing fire"), he says: in the middle of the blazing fire.
Ibn Sinān related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to us, he said: ʿAbbād ibn Rāshid related to us, he said: I heard al-Ḥasan — and he mentioned the same.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb related to us, he said: Abū Hilāl related to us, he said: Qatāda related to us, concerning His statement سَوَاءِ الْجَحِيم ("the midst of the blazing fire"), he said: the middle of it.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: هَلْ أَنْتُمْ مُطَّلِعُونَ ("Will you look down?"), he said: he asked his Lord to let him look down. He said: فَاطَّلَعَ فَرَآهُ فِي سَوَاءِ الْجَحِيمِ ("Then he looked down and saw him in the midst of the blazing fire"): that is, in the middle of the blazing fire.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Khulayd al-ʿAṣarī, he said: had Allah not made him recognize him, he would not have recognized him, for his complexion and stature had changed thereafter. And it has been related to us that he looked down and saw the skulls of the people, and said: تَاللَّهِ إِنْ كِدْتَ لَتُرْدِينِ * وَلَوْلا نِعْمَةُ رَبِّي لَكُنْتُ مِنَ الْمُحْضَرِينَ ("By Allah, you nearly ruined me! And had it not been for the favor of my Lord, I would have been among those brought forth").
Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Ibrāhīm ibn Abī al-Wazīr related to us, he said: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Muṭarrif ibn ʿAbdallāh, concerning His statement فَاطَّلَعَ فَرَآهُ فِي سَوَاءِ الْجَحِيمِ ("Then he looked down and saw him in the midst of the blazing fire"), he said: by Allah, had He not made him recognize him, he would not have recognized him, for the Fire had changed his complexion and stature.
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His statement هَلْ أَنْتُمْ مُطَّلِعُونَ ("Will you look down?"), he said: Ibn ʿAbbās used to recite it: "hal antum muṭṭaliʿūnī fa-ṭṭalaʿa fa-raʾāhu fī sawāʾi l-jaḥīm" ("Will you let me look down? Then he looked down and saw him in the midst of the blazing fire"), he said: in the middle of the blazing fire.
And this reading which al-Suddī mentioned on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — namely that he read in (muṭṭaliʿūn) [a connected pronoun] — belongs, if it has been reliably transmitted from him, to the anomalous (shāḏḏ) readings. That is so because the Arabs, in the case of a hidden pronoun of nouns that is attached to an agent (an active participle), do not prefer the annexation (iḍāfa), whether it be singular or plural. They almost never say "anta mukallimunī," nor "antumā mukallimānī," nor "antum mukallimūnī" or "mukallimūnanī," but rather they say "anta mukallimī" (you are the one who speaks to me), "antumā mukallimāya," and "antum mukallimī." And when one of them does say that, he says it by way of error, confusing it with "anta tukallimunī," "antumā tukallimānī," and "antum tukallimūnanī," as the poet said:
And I do not know — and my conjecture is mere conjecture — whether you will deliver me up to my people, O Sharāḥ?
Thus he said "musliminī," but that is not the correct form of the wording; the correct form is rather "amusliminī" [i.e. "amuslimī"]. But when the wording is pronounced and not attached to the agent, then they sometimes annex and sometimes do not. One then says: "hādhā mukallimun akhāka" and "mukallimu akhīka," "hādhāni mukallimā akhīka" and "mukallimāni akhāka," "hāʾulāʾi mukallimū akhīka" and "mukallimūna akhāka." And they prefer the annexation only in the case of the hidden pronoun that is attached to an agent, because the two elements, through the connection of the one to the other, become as one element.
