Tafseer of The Beneficent · Ar-Rahmaan · 55:35
There will be sent upon you a flame of fire and smoke, and you will not defend yourselves.
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.
Explanation of the word of the Exalted: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ وَنُحَاسٌ فَلا تَنْتَصِرَانِ (35) ("There will be sent upon you both a flame of fire and molten copper [or smoke], and then you will not be able to defend yourselves") (55:35).
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا ("There will be sent upon you both"), O you two weighty kinds (the jinn and mankind), on the Day of Resurrection, شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("a flame of fire"), that is to say: its blazing flame, from where it blazes up and is fanned, without any smoke in it. To this belongs the verse of Ruʾba ibn al-ʿAjjāj:
"Indeed, they will suffer the utmost from our kind, and the fire of war makes the flame (al-shuwāẓ) blaze up."
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī 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 word: شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("a flame of fire"), he says: the flame of the fire.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("There will be sent upon you both a flame of fire"), he says: the flame of the fire.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("a flame of fire"), he said: the flame of the fire.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("There will be sent upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: the broken-off flame.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("There will be sent upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: al-shuwāẓ is the green, broken-off part of the fire.
He said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("There will be sent upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: al-shuwāẓ is that green, broken-off flame of the fire.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, concerning His word: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("There will be sent upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: al-shuwāẓ is the green, broken-off flame of the fire.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: الشُّوَاظُ (al-shuwāẓ): the flame.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("There will be sent upon you both a flame of fire"): that is to say, a flame of fire.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("a flame of fire"), he said: a flame of fire.
And Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("There will be sent upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: al-shuwāẓ is the flame; and as for al-nuḥās — Allah knows best what He intended by it.
Mention of who said that:
And others said: al-shuwāẓ is the smoke that rises from the flame.
* Mention of who said that:
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("a flame of fire"): the smoke that rises from the flame — not the smoke of firewood.
The Qurʾān-reciters differed concerning the reading of His word: شُوَاظٌ (shuwāẓ). Most of the reciters of Medina, Kūfa and Baṣra — with the exception of Ibn Abī Isḥāq — read it as (shuwāẓ) with a ḍamma on the shīn. Ibn Abī Isḥāq and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr read it as شِوَاظٌ مِنْ نارٍ (shiwāẓ min nār) with a kasra on the shīn. They are two linguistic variants, like al-ṣuwār and al-ṣiwār for a herd of cattle, with a kasra on the ṣād or a ḍamma on it. The reading that pleases me most is that with the ḍamma on the shīn, because this is the commonly known linguistic variant, and moreover it is the reading of the reciters from the various regions.
As for His word: وَنُحَاسٌ ("and nuḥās"), the interpreters differed concerning what is meant by it. Some of them said: by it is meant the smoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to me, saying: Mūsā ibn ʿUmayr related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: وَنُحَاسٌ فَلا تَنْتَصِرَانِ ("and nuḥās, and then you will not be able to defend yourselves"), he said: al-nuḥās is the smoke.
ʿAlī 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 word: وَنُحَاسٌ ("and nuḥās"): the smoke of the fire.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, concerning His word: وَنُحَاسٌ ("and nuḥās"): he said: smoke.
And others said: by al-nuḥās in this place is meant yellow copper (brass).
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَنُحَاسٌ ("and nuḥās"), he said: al-nuḥās is the yellow copper with which they are punished.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَنُحَاسٌ ("and nuḥās"), he said: yellow copper is melted above their heads.
He said: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَنُحَاسٌ ("and nuḥās"), he said: yellow copper is melted and poured over his head.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: وَنُحَاسٌ ("and nuḥās"): yellow copper is melted and poured over their heads.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَنُحَاسٌ ("and nuḥās"), he said: He threatens them both with the yellow copper, as you hear, that He will punish them with it.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Marwān related to us, saying: Abū al-ʿAwwām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ وَنُحَاسٌ ("There will be sent upon you both a flame of fire and nuḥās"), he said: He makes them afraid with the fire and with the copper.
Of the two opinions, the one preferable in my judgement is that whose proponent says: by al-nuḥās is meant the smoke. That is because He, exalted be His praise, mentioned that He sends upon these two kinds of living beings a flame of fire, and that is the pure fire in which no smoke is mixed. And what is most fitting for this expression is that He threatened them with a fire of this description, and that this threat is followed by something which is the opposite of it but belongs to the same kind, namely a punishment — and not by something of a different kind. And that is the smoke. The Arabs call smoke nuḥās with a ḍamma on the nūn, and nuḥās with a kasra on it, while the reciters unanimously read it with a ḍamma. To the usage of nuḥās in the meaning of smoke belongs the verse of Nābigha of the Banū Dhubyān:
"It gleams like the gleam of the butcher's lamp, to which Allah has added no smoke (nuḥās)."
He means: smoke.
And His word: فَلا تَنْتَصِرَانِ ("and then you will not be able to defend yourselves"). The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and then you will not be able to defend yourselves against Him, O jinn and mankind, when He punishes you with this punishment, nor will you escape from Him.
As Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: فَلا تَنْتَصِرَانِ ("and then you will not be able to defend yourselves"), he said: by this are meant the jinn and mankind.
