وَما أَدراكَ مَا الحُطَمَةُ
And what will show you what is the crusher?
EXEGESIS
Mā adrā-ka (what shows you, or what makes you know) consists of three parts. The first part is the interrogative prefix mā, meaning what. The second part, adrā, is the transitive form of the verb darā, which means he had knowledge or information or found out about something. The third part is the suffix denoting the second person object pronoun, ka. Thus, the literal meaning of mā adrā-ka would be: what makes you know? or, what shows you? It is normally used to draw the attention of the listener to something greater and beyond the scope of their sources of knowledge.
This exact form and structure has been used in the Quran thirteen times to show the importance or enormity of certain terms and concepts, especially those related to the unseen world. These include the names and the properties of the Day of Judgement (69:3, 77:14, 82:17, 82:18, 101:3), the names and different types of hellfire (74:27, 101:10, 104:5), the names of the books of deeds for both the people of good and evil (83:8, 83:19), and for the introduction of the Night of Ordainment (laylat al-qadr) (97:1). This expression is used to tell the audience that they cannot know the matter at hand fully, and exhibits the importance and enormity of what comes after it by giving it an aura of ambiguity. It is used in this verse as a form of exaggeration, which is to express the severity of the ḥuṭamah.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- Imam Ali (a) said: ‘There is a grinding mill in hell; would you not ask me what it grinds?’ He was asked: ‘What does it grind, O Commander of the Faithful?’ He said: ‘The corrupt scholars, the immoral preachers, the arrogant oppressors, the betraying governors, and the fake mystics. Verily, there is a city in hell called al-Haṣīnah; would you not ask me what is in it?’ So, it was said: ‘What is in it, O Commander of the Faithful?’ He said: ‘In it there are the hands of the betrayers of the covenant.’
Note: ‘Grinding’ in this hadith seems to be the ḥuṭamah that crushes. It seems that the Imam is pointing to those who broke their pledges with him and waged wars against him. Among those who were involved in the animosity with Imam Ali (a) were an arrogant leader, a group of scholars who gave verdicts to legislate the war against the Imam, and the preachers who preached against him by spreading those ill verdicts and who provoked others to fight him. Furthermore, there were the fake spiritual leaders such as the Kharijites, who used to deceive people with their fake spirituality and mystical statements, diverting them away from the true spiritual personality of the Imam, and turning them against him. Finally, the hadith refers to those who betrayed the covenants they had made with him, and their supporters.
- Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) was asked about how the skin and the body recreates as observed in verse 4:56. He said: ‘Have you not seen, if you take a brick and break it into dust and after that you place it in a moulding box, would it not become as it was before? It is nothing but the same one; therefore, a change occurred, but the origin is the same.’
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
This verse indicates that normal minds cannot comprehend ḥuṭamah, because people have never seen it and have never experienced anything like it, and this is indicated using the interrogative form of astonishment. The interrogative phrase is used for expressing amazement and astonishment, greatness and amplification, graveness, and severity.
[1] https://www.almaany.com/quran/104/5/2/.
[2] Mizan, 20/358.
[3] Bihar, 2/107.
[4] Bihar, 8/237, h. 20.
[5] Brusawi, 10/508.
[6] Maydānī, Maʿārij al-Tafakkur wa Daqāʾiq al-Tadabbur, 15/534.