Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:10
Indeed, those who devour the property of orphans unjustly are only consuming into their bellies fire. And they will be burned in a Blaze.
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 discourse on the explanation of His saying: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَ الْيَتَامَى ظُلْمًا إِنَّمَا يَأْكُلُونَ فِي بُطُونِهِمْ نَارًا وَسَيَصْلَوْنَ سَعِيرًا (Truly, those who consume the property of orphans wrongfully consume only fire in their bellies, and they will burn in a blazing Fire) (4:10).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted be His praise, means by His saying: "Truly, those who consume the property of orphans wrongfully" — that is, without right — "consume only fire in their bellies" on the Day of Resurrection, on account of the fact that they consumed the property of orphans wrongfully in this world, namely the fire of Hell (jahannam), "and they will burn" on account of their consuming "in a blazing Fire," as in:
8722 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Truly, those who consume the property of orphans wrongfully consume only fire in their bellies" — he said: When a man who consumed the property of the orphan wrongfully rises, he is raised up on the Day of Resurrection while the flame of fire comes out of his mouth, and out of his ear-holes, and out of his ears, and his nose, and his eyes; whoever sees him recognizes him as one who consumed the property of the orphan.
8723 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, saying: Abū Hārūn al-ʿAbdī informed me, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said: The Prophet ﷺ told us about the night on which he was carried away on the Night Journey; he said: I looked, and behold, there I was among a people who had lips like the lips of camels, and there was one appointed over them who would seize them by their lips and then place stones of fire into their mouths, which would come out again through their lower parts. I said: O Jibrīl, who are these? He said: These are those who consumed the property of orphans wrongfully; they consume only fire in their bellies.
8724 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "Truly, those who consume the property of orphans wrongfully consume only fire in their bellies, and they will burn in a blazing Fire" — he said: My father said: This concerns the people of associating partners (shirk), at the time when they did not let them [the orphans] inherit and consumed their property.
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As for His saying: "and they will burn (yaṣlawna) in a blazing Fire" — this is derived from al-ṣalā, and al-ṣalā is warming oneself at the fire, that is, heating oneself by it, as al-Farazdaq said:
"And the dog of the tribe fought over the fire of his people, that he might crouch down beside it, while the blaze (al-ṣalā) enclosed him."
And as al-ʿAjjāj said:
"And hearths for the fire, steadfast (ṣaliyy)."
Then this came to be used for everyone who takes in hand with his own hand some affair or other, be it war or combat or strife or anything else, as the poet said:
"I was not among those who instigated it, Allah knows it, and indeed I am today, through its heat, a burning one (ṣālī)."
Thus he made what he endured of the severity of the war and the torment of the combat equivalent to enduring the torment of the fire and its heat.
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The reciters differed concerning the reading of it.
The general reciters of Medina and Iraq read it: (وَسَيَصْلَوْنَ سَعِيرًا) with a fatḥa on the "yāʾ," in accordance with the explanation we have given.
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And some of the Meccans and some of the Kūfans read it: "وَسَيُصْلَوْنَ" with a ḍamma on the "yāʾ," with the meaning: they will be burned.
= This is according to their expression: "a roasted (maṣliyya) sheep," that is: grilled.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The reading with fatḥa is more deserving of preference here than the one with ḍamma, on account of the agreement of all the reciters upon the fatḥa on the "yāʾ" in His saying: لا يَصْلاهَا إِلا الأَشْقَى (None shall burn in it but the most wretched) [Sūrat al-Layl: 15], and on account of the indication of His saying: إِلا مَنْ هُوَ صَالِ الْجَحِيمِ (except him who is to burn in the Hellfire) [Sūrat al-Ṣāffāt: 163], that the fatḥa therein is more deserving of preference than the ḍamma. As for "al-saʿīr" (the blazing Fire): this is the intensity of the heat of Hell (jahannam); from it is derived the expression "the war blazed up (istaʿarat)" when it became intense. Properly it is [a form with the meaning] "masʿūr" (kindled), but it was converted to "saʿīr," as one says: "a dyed (khaḍīb) hand" and "an anointed (dahīn) beard," while it is properly "makhḍūba" (dyed), converted to the form "faʿīl."
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The explanation of the word is therefore: and they will burn in a kindled fire, that is: ignited, inflamed, with intense heat.
And we have said only that this is so because Allah, exalted be His praise, said: وَإِذَا الْجَحِيمُ سُعِّرَتْ (And when the Hellfire is kindled) [Sūrat al-Takwīr: 12], whereby He described it as kindled (masʿūra).
Then He, exalted be His praise, informed that the consumers of the property of orphans will burn therein, and it is as described. "Al-saʿīr" is thus, in this place, a description of the Hellfire (al-jaḥīm), in accordance with what we have described.
