Tafseer of The Cloaked One · Al-Muddaththir · 74:30
Over it are nineteen [angels].
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: عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ (Over it are nineteen). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: over Saqar (the Fire) are nineteen of the keepers.
And it has been related that, when this was revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Abū Jahl said what Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me concerning it, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ (Over it are nineteen) up to His statement: وَيَزْدَادَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِيمَانًا (and that those who believe may increase in faith). When Abū Jahl heard that, he said to the Quraysh: may your mothers be bereaved of you! I hear the son of Abū Kabsha informing you that the keepers of the Fire are nineteen, while you are so numerous! Is then every ten of you not able to overpower one of the keepers of Hell (jahannam)? Then it was revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he should go to Abū Jahl, take him by the hand in the open plain of Mecca, and say to him: أَوْلَى لَكَ فَأَوْلَى * ثُمَّ أَوْلَى لَكَ فَأَوْلَى (Woe to you, and again woe! Then woe to you, and again woe!). When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did that with him, Abū Jahl said: by Allah, you and your Lord will achieve nothing against me! But Allah humiliated him on the Day of Badr.
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ (Over it are nineteen): it has been related to us that Abū Jahl, when this verse was sent down, said: O assembly of Quraysh, is then every ten of you not able to overcome one of the keepers of the Fire, while you are so numerous? For your companion informs you that over it watch nineteen.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: Abū Jahl said: Muḥammad informs you that the keepers of the Fire are nineteen, while you are so numerous, so that every ten may band together against one.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement: عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ (Over it are nineteen), he said: its keepers are nineteen.
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The footnotes:
(2) In al-Nihāya of Ibn al-Athīr, where the verse is mentioned: "al-dahm", with fatḥa on the dāl, means: the great number.