Tafseer of The Cloaked One · Al-Muddaththir · 74:29
Blackening the skins.
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.
His statement: لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ ("scorching the skin") — He, exalted be His praise, means: it changes the skin of its inhabitants. The word "lawwāḥa" is a description of Saqar (the Hellfire), and it is placed in the nominative because it refers back to it; the nominative is fitting here, despite the word being indefinite while "Saqar" is definite, because of the laudatory meaning contained in it.
And in agreement with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) also spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, 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: لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ , he said: the skin.
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abū Razīn: لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ , he said: it scorches the skin with a single scorching, and leaves it blacker than the night.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: my father and Shuʿayb ibn al-Layth related to us, on the authority of Khālid ibn Yazīd, on the authority of Ibn Abī Hilāl, who said: Zayd ibn Aslam said: لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ : that is, their bodies are scorched above it.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ , that is: burner of the skin.
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: لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ , he says: it burns the skin of man.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ , he said: it changes the skin, it burns the skin. One says: "his face turned toward the sky scorched him (lāḥa-hu)." Then he said: the Fire changes their colors.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Sumayʿ, on the authority of Abū Razīn: لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ : it changed their skins so that they became black.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Sumayʿ, on the authority of Abū Razīn, something similar.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement: لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ , that is: the skin of man; he says: it burns his skin.
And concerning Ibn ʿAbbās, there is transmitted regarding this what 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 statement: لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ , he says: made visible / exposed (muʿarriḍa). But I fear that this transmission of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās is a mistake, and that in the place of "muʿarriḍa" there should actually have been "mughayyira" (changing), but that it was miswritten therein.
