Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:50
And if you could but see when the angels take the souls of those who disbelieved... They are striking their faces and their backs and [saying], "Taste the punishment of the Burning Fire.
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.
The explanation of His word: وَلَوْ تَرَى إِذْ يَتَوَفَّى الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الْمَلائِكَةُ يَضْرِبُونَ وُجُوهَهُمْ وَأَدْبَارَهُمْ وَذُوقُوا عَذَابَ الْحَرِيقِ (50) (And if you could see when the angels take away the souls of those who disbelieved, striking their faces and their backs: "Taste the punishment of the burning!") (8:50)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: And if you were to behold it with your own eyes, O Muḥammad, at the moment when the angels take away the souls of the disbelievers (kāfir), tearing them out of their bodies, while they strike them upon the faces and the backsides, and say to them: "Taste the punishment of the Fire that will burn you on the day you enter Hell (jahannam)."
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, so have the interpreters of the Qurʾān (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
16200- Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (when the angels take away the souls of those who disbelieved, striking their faces and their backs), he said: on the day of Badr.
16201- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Sulaym related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Kathīr, on the authority of Mujāhid: (they strike their faces and their backs), he said: and their backsides (astāh), but Allah is noble and speaks euphemistically.
16202- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Hāshim, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (they strike their faces and their backs), he said: and their backsides, but He is noble and speaks euphemistically.
16203- Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to us, saying: Shuʿba informed us, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Muslim, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His word: (they strike their faces and their backs), he said: Indeed, Allah used a euphemism, and had He willed He would have said: "their backsides (astāh)," and by "their backs" He meant their backsides.
16204- Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: their backsides, on the day of Badr. Ibn Jurayj said, Ibn ʿAbbās said: When the polytheists (mushrikīn) turned their faces toward the Muslims, they struck their faces with the swords. And when they turned away, the angels caught up with them and struck their backs.
16205- Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: ʿAbbād ibn Rāshid related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: A man said: O Messenger of Allah, I saw upon the back of Abū Jahl something like a sandal-strap! He said: What is that? He said: The striking of the angels.
16206- Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: that a man said to the Prophet ﷺ: I attacked a man of the polytheists and went to strike him, and his head had already fallen off? He said: The angel preceded you.
16207- Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ḥarmala related to me: that he heard ʿUmar, the freedman of Ghufra, say: When you hear Allah say: (they strike their faces and their backs), He means thereby only: their backsides.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And in the wording there is something omitted, the mention of which was rendered superfluous by what the context indicates, and that is His word: "and they say," (Taste the punishment of the burning); "they say" is omitted, just as it is omitted from His word: وَلَوْ تَرَى إِذِ الْمُجْرِمُونَ نَاكِسُو رُءُوسِهِمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ رَبَّنَا أَبْصَرْنَا وَسَمِعْنَا [Surah al-Sajdah: 12] (And if you could see when the evildoers bow their heads before their Lord: "Our Lord, we have seen and heard") (32:12), with the meaning: they say: Our Lord, we have seen.
