Tafseer of The Smoke · Ad-Dukhaan · 44:45
Like murky oil, it boils within bellies
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: كَالْمُهْلِ يَغْلِي فِي الْبُطُونِ (like molten metal it boils in the bellies). He, exalted is His remembrance, says: indeed, the zaqqūm-tree, whose fruit He has made the food of the unbeliever (kāfir) in Hell (jahannam), is like lead or silver, or like that which is melted in the fire when it is melted therewith and its heat reaches its utmost and its glow becomes intense in intense blackness.
And we have already previously expounded the meaning of al-muhl (molten metal) with testimonies that make it unnecessary to repeat it in this place, and we have mentioned the disagreement of the exegetes about it; except that in this place we mention of the statements of the scholars that which we did not mention there.
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt related to us, saying: Abū Kudayna related to us, on the authority of Qābūs, on the authority of his father, saying: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about the statement of Allah, exalted is His praise: كَالمُهْلِ (like molten metal). He said: like the dregs of oil.
ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement كَالْمُهْلِ يَغْلِي فِي الْبُطُونِ (like molten metal it boils in the bellies). He says: black like the dregs of oil.
Abū Kurayb, Abū al-Sāʾib and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, they said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Muṭarrif, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement كَالمُهْلِ (like molten metal): thick water like the dregs of oil.
Yaḥyā ibn Ṭalḥa related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Muṭarrif, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement كَالمُهْلِ (like molten metal). He said: like the dregs of oil.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: Khulayd related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he saw silver that had been melted, and he said: this is al-muhl.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Maymūn related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh concerning His statement: كَالْمُهْلِ يَشْوِي الْوُجُوهَ (like molten metal, it scorches the faces). He said: ʿAbd Allāh entered the house of the treasury (bayt al-māl) and took out from it remnants that were in it, and kindled a fire beneath them until it glittered. He said: where is the one who asks about al-muhl? This is al-muhl.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us; and Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Khālid ibn al-Ḥārith related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, saying: it reached me that Ibn Masʿūd was asked about al-muhl which they say is, on the Day of Resurrection, the drink of the inhabitants of the Fire, while he was placed in charge of the treasury. He said: then he had gold and silver brought and melted both of them, and he said: this, in this world, is the most resembling of al-muhl, which will be the color of the sky on the Day of Resurrection and the drink of the inhabitants of the Fire, except that that is hotter than this. The wording of the report is that of Ibn Bashshār, and the report of Ibn al-Muthannā is like it.
Abū Kurayb and Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, they both said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: Ashʿath informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, saying: it was among his words that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd was a man whom Allah had honored with the companionship of Muḥammad ﷺ, and that ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, had appointed him over the treasury. He said: then he went to much broken silver, dug a trench for it, then ordered thick firewood, and kindled a fire beneath it, until, when it melted and frothed and changed in color, he said: look who is at the gate. The people were let in, and he said to them: this is the most resembling of what we have seen in this world to al-muhl.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement إِنَّ شَجَرَةَ الزَّقُّومِ طَعَامُ الأثِيمِ (indeed, the zaqqūm-tree is the food of the sinner)... the verse. It was related to us that Ibn Masʿūd was given a drinking-vessel of gold and silver, and he ordered a trench, which was dug in the ground, and thick firewood was thrown into it, and then that drinking-vessel was thrown into it. Until, when it frothed and melted, he said to his servant: call whoever is present with us of the people of Kūfa. He called a group, and when they came in, he said: do you see this? They said: yes. He said: we have seen nothing in this world that approaches al-muhl more than gold and silver when it frothed and melted.
Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sufyān al-Asadī, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd melted silver, then said: whoever wishes to look at al-muhl, let him look at this.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Qābūs, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement يَوْمَ تَكُونُ السَّمَاءُ كَالْمُهْلِ (the Day on which the sky will be like molten metal). He said: like the dregs of oil.
Yaḥyā ibn Ṭalḥa related to me, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd: كالمُهْلِ (like molten metal). He said: like the dregs of oil.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaʿmar ibn Bishr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, saying: Abū al-Ṣabāḥ related to us, saying: I heard Yazīd ibn Abī Sumayya saying: I heard Ibn ʿUmar saying: do you know what al-muhl is? Al-muhl is the dregs of oil — he means the last of it.
He said: Ibrāhīm Abū Isḥāq al-Ṭālaqānī related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, saying: Abū al-Ṣabāḥ al-Aylī informed us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Abī Sumayya, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, in like manner.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Rishdīn ibn Saʿd related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith, on the authority of Darrāj Abī al-Samḥ, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ concerning His statement: بِمَاءٍ كَالْمُهْلِ (with water like molten metal): like the sediment of oil; and when he brings it to his face, the skin of his face falls into it.
He said: Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaʿmar ibn Bishr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: Rishdīn ibn Saʿd informed us, saying: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith related to me, on the authority of Abī al-Samḥ, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, in the same manner.
And His statement فِي الْبُطُونِ (in the bellies). The reciters differed over its reading. The general reciters of Medina, Basra and Kūfa read it "تَغْلِي" (she boils) with the tāʾ, with the meaning that the zaqqūm-tree boils in their bellies; they made "تغلي" feminine because of the feminine gender of the tree (al-shajara). And some reciters of Kūfa read it (يَغْلِي) (it boils), with the meaning: the food of the sinner boils, or: al-muhl boils. Some of them made it masculine because of the masculine gender of the food (al-ṭaʿām) and turned its meaning to that the food is that which boils in their bellies; and some of them because of the masculine gender of al-muhl, and turned it to that it is an attribute of al-muhl that it boils.
And the correct view concerning that is that they are two well-known readings, both correct in meaning; with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he is correct.
