Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:9
And the companions of the left - what are the companions of the left?
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.
"En de mensen van de linkerzijde — wat zijn de mensen van de linkerzijde!" (56:9) — the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: and the people of the left hand, those who are driven along the left side toward the Fire. The Arabs call the left hand al-shuʾmā; and to this belongs the saying of al-Aʿshā of the Banū Thaʿlaba:
Then he leaned upon the left of his two hands and warded them off with something thirstier than the topmost lock of the hair-tuft, jet-black.
[Footnote: The verse is by al-Aʿshā of the Banū Qays ibn Thaʿlaba (in his dīwān, Cairo edition, p. 295), from a poem in which he praises Iyās ibn Qabīṣa al-Ṭāʾī. It is also transmitted as a panegyric on Qays ibn Maʿdīkarib. "Anḥā" means: he leaned/supported himself; one says: "the camel anḥā," that is, it supported itself in its gait upon its left side. "The hand al-shuʾmā": the left. "Aẓmaʾ": dark brown and parched. "Al-farʿ": the hair. "Al-dhuʾāba": the hair of the forelock. "Asḥam": black. He describes a bull upon which the hunting dogs gathered and which he warded off from himself with his parched, pointed horn, which is blacker than a strand of hair. The proof lies in his words "shuʾmā of his two hands," that is, the left of them. Abū ʿUbayda said in Majāz al-Qurʾān regarding His words, the Exalted, "En de mensen van de linkerzijde — wat zijn de mensen van de linkerzijde": the people of the left side; and the left hand is called al-shuʾmā; and it is said that it is the left side. Yemen (al-yaman) is so named because it lies to the right (yamīn) of the Kaʿba, and al-Shaʾm (Syria) because it lies to the left (shimāl) of the Kaʿba. End.]
