Tafseer of The Beneficent · Ar-Rahmaan · 55:36
So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?
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.
That is so, because dominion is a proof.
And His word: فَبِأَيِّ آلاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ ("Then which of the favours of your Lord do you both deny?") — the Exalted, whose praise is memorialized, says: Then which of the favours of your Lord do you both deny, O assembly of the two weighty kinds (the jinn and mankind), which I have bestowed upon you — namely the making equal among all of you, so that they are not able to do anything contrary to a command which He has willed concerning you — which of these do you deny?
The explanation of the word of the Exalted: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ وَنُحَاسٌ فَلا تَنْتَصِرَانِ (٣٥) فَبِأَيِّ آلاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٣٦) فَإِذَا انْشَقَّتِ السَّمَاءُ فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ (٣٧) فَبِأَيِّ آلاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٣٨) ("There shall be loosed upon you both a flame of fire and molten copper [or smoke], and you will not be able to help yourselves (35). Then which of the favours of your Lord do you both deny? (36). And when the heaven is split open and becomes red like red leather-oil (37). Then which of the favours of your Lord do you both deny? (38)")
The Exalted, whose praise is memorialized, says: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا ("There shall be loosed upon you both"), O two weighty kinds, on the Day of Resurrection, شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("a flame of fire") — and that is its blazing flame, where it blazes and blazes without there being smoke in it or with it. To this belongs the word of Ruʼba ibn al-ʿAjjāj:
"Indeed, by our assault they have terrors (in store), and the fire of war kindles the blazing flame."
And in a similar vein to what we have said about this, the people of explanation (the exegetes) 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 said: it is the blazing 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 shall be loosed upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: the blazing 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 blazing 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 shall be loosed upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: the severed (interrupted) 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 shall be loosed upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: al-shuwāẓ is the green, severed (flame) 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 shall be loosed upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: al-shuwāẓ is this green, severed flame of the fire.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, concerning His word: يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("There shall be loosed upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: al-shuwāẓ is the green, severed flame of the fire.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: (al-shuwāẓ) is the blazing 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 shall be loosed upon you both a flame of fire"): that is to say a blazing 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 blazing 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 shall be loosed upon you both a flame of fire"), he said: al-shuwāẓ is the blazing flame; and as for al-nuḥās, Allah knows best what He meant by it.
Mention of who said that:
And others have said: al-shuwāẓ is the smoke that rises from the blazing flame.
* Mention of who said that:
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: شُوَاظٌ مِنْ نَارٍ ("a flame of fire"): it is the smoke that rises from the blazing flame, not the smoke of firewood.
The Qurʾān-reciters differed concerning the reading of His word: شُوَاظٌ ("a flame"). The generality of the reciters of Medina, Kufa and Basra, with the exception of Ibn Abī Isḥāq, read it as (shuwāẓ) with a ḍamma on the shīn, while Ibn Abī Isḥāq and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr read it as شِوَاظٌ مِنْ نارٍ (shiwāẓ) with a kasra on the shīn. Both are (valid) linguistic variants, like al-ṣuwār (herd) of cattle — one says al-ṣiwār with a kasra on the ṣād and with a ḍamma. The reading most pleasing to me of the two is the ḍamma on the shīn, because that is the most well-known linguistic variant, and moreover it is the reading of the reciters of the (various) cities.
And as for His word ونُحاسٌ ("and molten copper [or smoke]"): the people of explanation differed concerning what is meant by it. Some of them said: by it the smoke is meant.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to me, saying: Mūsā ibn ʿUmayr related to us, on the authority of Abī Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: وَنُحَاسٌ فَلا تَنْتَصِرَانِ ("and molten copper [or smoke], and you will not be able to help 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: ونُحاسٌ ("and molten copper [or smoke]"): 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: ونُحاسٌ ("and molten copper [or smoke]"), he said: smoke.
And others have said: by al-nuḥās in this place the yellow copper (brass) is meant.
* 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: ونُحاسٌ ("and molten copper"), 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: ونُحاسٌ ("and molten copper"), he said: the 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: ونُحاسٌ ("and molten copper"), he said: the yellow copper is melted and then poured over his head.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: ونُحاسٌ ("and molten copper"): the yellow copper is melted and then poured over their heads.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ونُحاسٌ ("and molten copper"), 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 shall be loosed upon you both a flame of fire and molten copper"), he said: He makes them afraid with the fire and with the copper.
The more correct of the two opinions concerning that, in my view, is the opinion of the one who says: by al-nuḥās the smoke is meant. That is so because He, exalted be His praise, mentioned that He looses upon these two communities a flame of fire, and that is the pure fire which is not mixed with smoke. And what is most fitting for the statement is that — when He threatened them with a fire of which this is the description — that threat is followed by something which is its opposite but of the same kind of chastisement, and not by something of an entirely different kind; and that is the smoke. The Arabs call the smoke nuḥās with a ḍamma on the nūn, and nuḥās with a kasra on it, and the reciters agree on the ḍamma on it. Among the (testimonies) of al-nuḥās in the meaning of smoke is the word of Nābigha of the Banū Dhubyān:
"It shines like the shining of a lamp of pure oil, in which Allah has placed no smoke (nuḥās)."
He means: smoke.
And His word: فَلا تَنْتَصِرَانِ ("and you will not be able to help yourselves") — the Exalted, whose praise is memorialized, says: and you, O jinn and mankind, will not be able to help yourselves against Him when He inflicts this chastisement upon you, and you will not be rescued from it.
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 you will not be able to help yourselves"), he said: by it the jinn and mankind are meant.
He said: And His word: فَإِذَا انْشَقَّتِ السَّمَاءُ فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ ("And when the heaven is split open and becomes red like red leather-oil") — the Exalted, whose praise is memorialized, says: and when the heaven is split and bursts open, and that is on the Day of Resurrection, and its colour becomes the colour of the reddish-bay horse, the red one.
And in a similar vein to what we have said about this, the people of explanation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt related to us, saying: Abū Kudāyna related to us, on the authority of Qābūs, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ ("and becomes red like red leather-oil"), he said: like the reddish-bay horse.
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: فَإِذَا انْشَقَّتِ السَّمَاءُ فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ ("And when the heaven is split open and becomes red like red leather-oil"), he says: its colour changes.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥaywiya related to us, saying: Shihāb ibn ʿAbbād related to us, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥumayd related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of Abī Ṣāliḥ, concerning His word: وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ ("red like red leather-oil"), he said: like the colour of the reddish-bay horse, the red one; then afterwards it became like the oil (al-dihān).
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ ("and becomes red like red leather-oil"), he says: the heaven changes, so that its colour becomes the colour of the reddish-bay mount.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ ("red like red leather-oil"): it is today green as you see, and its colour on the Day of Resurrection will be another colour.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Marwān related to us, saying: Ibn al-ʿAwwām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: فَإِذَا انْشَقَّتِ السَّمَاءُ فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ ("And when the heaven is split open and becomes red like red leather-oil"), he said: it is today green, and its colour on that Day will be the red colour.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ ("red like red leather-oil"), he said: it is today green, and it will on that Day have another colour.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word: فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ ("and becomes red like red leather-oil"), he said: shining like the oil.
The people of explanation differed concerning the meaning of His word: كالدّهانِ ("like red leather-oil"). Some of them said: its meaning is: like the oil, pure of red and shining.
* Mention of who said that:
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: وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ ("red like red leather-oil"), he said: like the oil.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His word: كالدّهانِ ("like red leather-oil"), that is to say: pure.
And others have said: by it is meant: and it became red like the tanned leather; and they said: al-dihān is:
