وَامتازُوا اليَومَ أَيُّهَا المُجرِمونَ

And ‘Get apart today, you guilty ones!’

EXEGESIS

Mujrimūn (guilty ones) is the plural of mujrim, which is used for a criminal, sinner, faulty, disobedient, or an offender. The offence may be against one’s own self or against others and could lead to a punishment.^{‎[1]Lane, p. 413.}

EXPOSITION

Peace, blessing, fruits of actions, and fulfilment of demands and desires are for those who do not have injustice on their hands and crimes in their record. Those with such a record have to Get apart from the people of paradise. For them, there will be darkness and disappointment. The day the trumpet will be blown, on that day We shall muster the guilty with blind eyes (20:102), he will fail who bears [the onus of] wrongdoing (20:111).

The separation of good and evil on that day is according to the justice and wisdom of God, So that Allah may separate the evil from the good, and place the evil ones on one another, and pile them up together, and cast them into hell. It is they who are the losers (8:37). It is the realisation of the eternal destiny God has disposed for good and evil. Shall We treat those who have faith and do righteous deeds like those who cause corruption on the earth? Shall We treat the God-wary like the vicious? (38:28).

However, although the apparent meaning of the verse refers to the separation of the rows of the guilty from those of the faithful, some early commentators, such as al-Ḍaḥḥāk, have allowed it to mean the separation of the rows of the guilty from one another, every group going towards a different destination. Even more dramatically, he claims that not only will every type of criminal be separated from each other, but also every individual criminal and disbeliever will be separated from one another and will be locked in a solitary cell alone for eternity, and would not see anyone and no one would see them. It is, however, difficult to accept this understanding since it does not go with the context of the verse.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam al-Bāqir (a) said about And ‘Get apart today, you guilty ones!’: ‘When God gathers His creation on the Day of Resurrection, they will remain standing on their feet with sweat surrounding them, then they will call: “Reckon us, O our Lord, even by sending us to the fire.” So, God will send winds that strike between them, and a caller calls out: Get apart today, you guilty ones! which distinguishes them, so the evil ones and the criminals are taken to hell, and by that both are separated, hence, whoever had faith in his heart would go to paradise.’^{‎[2]Qummi, 2/216; Mizan, 17/103-105.}
2. The Messenger of God said: ‘Then We made heirs to the book those whom We chose from Our servants. Yet some of them are those who wrong themselves, and some of them are average, and some of them are those who take the lead in all the good works by Allah’s will. That is the greatest grace [of Allah] [35:32], those who would take the lead shall enter paradise without reckoning. Those who were average will be reckoned with an easy reckoning; those who wronged themselves will be imprisoned for the entire period in the gathering of the Day of Judgement.’^{‎[3]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/624.}
3. The Messenger of God said: ‘Indeed, the people will be resurrected into three groups: a group that will be riding, eating, and clothed. Another group will be dragged on their faces into the fire, and the last group will be walking and striving.’^{‎[4]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/2178.}

Note: This narration indicates distinction; the first group are the pure believers, the second are the criminals and evil oppressors, and the third are those who would go through reckoning, having both good and evil deeds. Abundant narrations describe the various forms in which the criminals would be resurrected on the Day of Judgement. It appears from the narrations that there would be a significant distinction between the criminals and others, and then the subdivisions of the criminals would be distinguished from one another based on the type of their crimes.

4. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘Whoever prefers this world over the hereafter, God will raise him blind on the Day of Resurrection.’^{‎[5]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/2181.}
5. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘God will place three sinners in hellfire without any reckoning: a tyrant leader, a deceitful merchant, and an elderly adulterer.’^{‎[6]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/624.}
6. The Messenger of God said: ‘[Six types of] sinners will enter hellfire without any reckoning [for six reasons]: the tyrant leaders, the [prejudiced] Arabs for their prejudice, the [arrogant] fools for arrogance, the [deceiving] merchants for deception, the [jealous] scholars for jealousy, and the [stingy] rich for stinginess.’^{‎[7]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/625.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

When the criminals on the Day of Judgement see the status of the believers, they become distinguished by their expressions of regret and remorse, so it is said to them to part themselves because there is no medicine for their pain and no cure for their disease. The second probable meaning for the command to Get apart is that they are commanded to hell and would never be with the people of paradise.^{‎[8]Razi, 26/95.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left … Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil … Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.^{‎[9]Matthew 25:32-33, 41, 46.}
2. Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied.^{‎[10]Matthew 13:36-43, 47-51.}

[1] Lane, p. 413.
[2] Qummi, 2/216; Mizan, 17/103-105.
[3] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/624.
[4] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/2178.
[5] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/2181.
[6] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/624.
[7] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/625.
[8] Razi, 26/95.
[9] Matthew 25:32-33, 41, 46.
[10] Matthew 13:36-43, 47-51.