Tafseer of The Cloaked One · Al-Muddaththir · 74:31
And We have not made the keepers of the Fire except angels. And We have not made their number except as a trial for those who disbelieve - that those who were given the Scripture will be convinced and those who have believed will increase in faith and those who were given the Scripture and the believers will not doubt and that those in whose hearts is hypocrisy and the disbelievers will say, "What does Allah intend by this as an example?" Thus does Allah leave astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And none knows the soldiers of your Lord except Him. And mention of the Fire is not but a reminder to humanity.
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: ( وَمَا جَعَلْنَا أَصْحَابَ النَّارِ إِلا مَلائِكَةً ) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and We have made the keepers of the Fire only angels — as an answer to Abū Jahl, in his word to the Quraysh: can each ten of you not overpower one of them? Who then would overpower the keepers of the Fire, while they are the angels?
And in accordance with what we have said about that, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd related to us, concerning His word: ( وَمَا جَعَلْنَا أَصْحَابَ النَّارِ إِلا مَلائِكَةً ) — he said: We did not make them men, so that each man could handle one man, as this one [Abū Jahl] said.
And His word: ( وَمَا جَعَلْنَا عِدَّتَهُمْ إِلا فِتْنَةً لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا ) — He says: and We have made their number — that of these keepers — only a trial for those who disbelieve in Allah, among the polytheists (mushrikīn) of the Quraysh.
And in accordance with what we have said about that, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( وَمَا جَعَلْنَا عِدَّتَهُمْ إِلا فِتْنَةً لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا ): only a trial.
And Allah made the report about the number of the keepers of Hell (jahannam) only a trial for those who disbelieve, because of their denial of it and the word of some of them to their companions: I will be able to handle them for you.
* Mention of the report about 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: ( تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ ) (nineteen) — he said: they were made a trial. Abū al-Ashadd ibn al-Jumaḥī said: they do not reach to my backbone, or I will drive them away from Hell (jahannam).
And His word: ( لِيَسْتَيْقِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ ) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: so that the People of the Torah and the Gospel may ascertain with certainty the truth of what is in their books concerning the report about the number of the keepers of Hell (jahannam), since that agrees with what Allah sent down in His Book to Muḥammad ﷺ.
And in accordance with what we have said about that, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* 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, concerning His word: ( لِيَسْتَيْقِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ وَيَزْدَادَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِيمَانًا ) — he said: and it stands in the Torah and the Gospel as nineteen; thus Allah willed that the People of the Book would ascertain it with certainty and that those who believed would increase in faith (īmān).
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: ( لِيَسْتَيْقِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ ) — he said: they find it written down with them, the number of the keepers of the People of the Fire.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( لِيَسْتَيْقِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ ) — the Qurʾān confirms the books that were before it, in them entirely, the Torah and the Gospel, that the keepers of the Fire are nineteen.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: ( لِيَسْتَيْقِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ ) — he said: so that the People of the Book would ascertain it with certainty, when the number of the keepers of the Fire agreed with what is in their books.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: ( لِيَسْتَيْقِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ ) — he said: the number of the keepers of Hell (jahannam) is nineteen in the Torah and the Gospel.
And Ibn Zayd used to say about that, as Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: ( لِيَسْتَيْقِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ ) — that you are the Messenger of Allah.
And His word: ( وَيَزْدَادَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِيمَانًا ) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and so that those who believed in Allah would increase in affirmation, beyond their affirmation of Allah and His Messenger, through their affirmation of the number of the keepers of Hell (jahannam).
And His word: ( وَلا يَرْتَابَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ ) — He says: and so that the People of the Torah and the Gospel would not doubt the truth of it, nor the believers in Allah from the community (umma) of Muḥammad ﷺ.
And His word: ( وَلِيَقُولَ الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ وَالْكَافِرُونَ ) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and so that those in whose hearts is the sickness of hypocrisy (nifāq), and the disbelievers in Allah among the polytheists of the Quraysh, would say: ( مَاذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِهَذَا مَثَلا ) (what did Allah intend by this as a parable?).
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( وَلِيَقُولَ الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ ): that is to say, hypocrisy (nifāq).
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: ( وَلِيَقُولَ الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ وَالْكَافِرُونَ مَاذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِهَذَا مَثَلا ) — he says: that He would frighten us with these nineteen.
And His word: ( كَذَلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللَّهُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ ) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: just as Allah has led astray these hypocrites and polytheists, who said concerning the report of Allah about the number of the keepers of Hell (jahannam): what did Allah intend by this report as a parable, that He would frighten us by mentioning their number — while the believers were guided by it, so that they increased in faith beyond their faith through their affirmation. ( كَذَلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللَّهُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ) of His creation, so that He leaves him to himself and turns him away from attaining the truth, ( وَيَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ ) among them, so that He enables him to attain what is right. ( وَمَا يَعْلَمُ جُنُودَ رَبِّكَ ) as for their great number ( إلا هُوَ ) — He means: Allah.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( وَمَا يَعْلَمُ جُنُودَ رَبِّكَ إِلا هُوَ ) — that is to say: their great number.
And His word: ( وَمَا هِيَ إِلا ذِكْرَى لِلْبَشَرِ ) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and the Fire that I have described is only a reminder by which mankind is admonished, and they are the children of Adam.
And in accordance with what we have said about that, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: ( وَمَا هِيَ إِلا ذِكْرَى لِلْبَشَرِ ) — he means 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: ( وَمَا هِيَ إِلا ذِكْرَى لِلْبَشَرِ ) — he said: the Fire.
