إِنَّ المُجرِمينَ في عَذابِ جَهَنَّمَ خالِدونَ

Indeed, the guilty will remain [forever] in the punishment of hell.

EXEGESIS

Mujrimīn (guilty) is the active participle of the verb jarama which stems from the infinitive jurm which literally means to pluck or cut a fruit from a tree.^{‎[1]Raghib, p. 192.} However, it later came to be used for committing any bad deed, perhaps because such actions sever a person from their Lord and from human values, distancing them from both.^{‎[2]Amthal, 16/98.}

According to some exegetes, the term jarīmah which is also derived from the same root, refers to a transgression on the consideration that the criminal ‘cuts off from’ society and severs his relationship with it. For this reason, it is not applied to personal sins if they do not have a harmful effect on society.^{‎[3]Hadi, 3/263.} Irving, therefore, translates mujrimīn as criminals.

EXPOSITION

After describing the bounties that await the God-wary in paradise, the next set of verses focuses on the fate of the evildoers.

Exegetes differ as to who is intended by the guilty. Whilst some claim that it is specifically referring to the polytheists, others suggest that this is a more general term that applies to all sinners, including those among the Muslims, who are liable for punishment. Exegetes who support the latter view resort to the contrast with the God-wary that were mentioned in the previous verses, as the God-wary are a subset of the more general group of believers.^{‎[4]Mizan, 18/123; Hadi, 3/263.}

Exegetes who support the former view state that the explicit mention of eternal punishment is an indicator that this group does not include the sinful believers, for it is unanimously accepted that believers will not remain in hellfire forever.^{‎[5]Amthal, 16/98.} This argument has been responded to by some exegetes who state that eternal punishment is not exclusive to the disbeliever. In 4:93, God states, Should anyone kill a believer intentionally, his requital shall be hell, to remain in it [forever]. These exegetes add that not all wrongdoers are intended in this verse. As explained in the Exposition, ijrām (criminality) does not encompass every sin, only those that have major societal impact.^{‎[6]Hadi, 3/263-264.}

Rāzī adds that the criminals in this verse are further described in verse 78 as, We certainly brought you the truth, but most of you were averse to the truth, whilst, according to him, the truth intended in that verse is Islam or the Quran, but a sinful Muslim is not averse to Islam or the Quran.^{‎[7]Razi, 27/643.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Mutazilite commentators have used this verse to support their theological stance that all sinners are entitled to eternal punishment in the hereafter, even if they may be Muslims. The Zaydi exegete, al-Ḥākim al-Jushamī, explicitly advocates for such a view by stating: ‘It establishes that sinful transgressors will be in the fire. If it is argued that the verse refers specifically to disbelievers – supported by the subsequent verses, but most of you are averse to the truth, and, Have they settled on some [devious] plan – we respond: the wording is general, and the sinful transgressor also shows aversion to the truth when enjoined to good and forbidden from evil, and he likewise plots against the believers. Therefore, there is no impediment to understanding the verse in its general sense.’^{‎[8]Al-Ḥākim al-Jushamī, al-Tahdhīb fī al-Tafsīr, 9/6331-6332.}

[1] Raghib, p. 192.
[2] Amthal, 16/98.
[3] Hadi, 3/263.
[4] Mizan, 18/123; Hadi, 3/263.
[5] Amthal, 16/98.
[6] Hadi, 3/263-264.
[7] Razi, 27/643.
[8] Al-Ḥākim al-Jushamī, al-Tahdhīb fī al-Tafsīr, 9/6331-6332.