Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:44
Neither cool nor beneficial.
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 word: لا بَارِدٍ وَلا كَرِيمٍ ("neither cool nor noble") — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: that shade is not cool, like the coolness of the shadows of all other things, but rather it is hot, for it is smoke from the blazing fire of Hell (jahannam); and it is not noble, for it brings pain upon whoever seeks shelter beneath it. The Arabs, regarding everything from which a praiseworthy quality is denied, follow that denial with the denial of nobility (karam), and so they say: this food is not tasty and not noble, and this meat is not fat and not noble, and this house is not clean and not noble.
And as for what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have said the like.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Bazīʿ related to me, saying: al-Naḍr related to us, saying: Juwaybir related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word: لا بَارِدٍ وَلا كَرِيمٍ ("neither cool nor noble"), he said: every drink that is not sweet is not noble.
And Qatāda used to say concerning that what Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: لا بَارِدٍ وَلا كَرِيمٍ ("neither cool nor noble"), he said: not cool of dwelling-place, and not noble of appearance.
