لا يُفَتَّرُ عَنهُم وَهُم فيهِ مُبلِسونَ

It will not be lightened for them, and they will be despondent in it.

EXEGESIS

Yufattaru (lightened) is a passive imperfect from the verb fatara which, according to Ṭabrisī, means the cessation of earnestness in a matter. Rāghib has said that fuṭūr means tranquillity after intensity, softness after harshness, and weakness after strength. These themes can be seen in the different instances where this verb is used in the Quran. For example, 21:20 says, They glorify [Him] night and day, and they do not slacken (lā yafturūn), describing the angels as beings that continuously glorify God and do not cease. The present verse can be understood as saying that the punishment will never slacken or cut off for the criminals.[1]

Most exegetes understand it to mean that punishment shall not be lightened or reduced for them.[2] Some exegetes have adopted both meanings by suggesting that the punishment shall not be reduced for them, neither in terms of duration nor in terms of quality and intensity.[3]

Mublisūn (despondent) is the active participle of the verb ablasa which stems from the infinitive iblās. Lexicographers have stated several root meanings. According to Rāghib, iblās is the grief or sorrow that overtakes a person due to severe affliction. Since the mublis (one stricken with this grief) often falls silent and forgets what concerns him, it is said ablasa so-and-so, meaning he became silent or his argument was cut off. And ablasa of a she-camel – she becomes a miblās – means that she does not graze due to severe distress.[4]

Another root meaning is to despair and lose hope and thus Satan is called Iblīs, for he can have no hope in the mercy of God.[5] This meaning is more in line with the Quranic usage and narrations. For example, Imam al-Riḍā (a) is reported to have said: ‘The name of Iblīs was al-Ḥārith. It was only when God, mighty and majestic, said to him: “O Iblīs, O sinner,” that he was called Iblīs – because he despaired (ablasa) of the mercy of God, mighty and majestic.’[6] And in the supplication of Imam al-Sajjād (a): ‘Do not terrify me with a shock by which I am left stricken with despair (ublisu bihā), nor with a fear that causes me to feel apprehension.’[7]

According to Ibn ʿĀshūr, silence is only a consequence of despair and thus should not be added as a condition in the definition, the way the likes of Rāghib and Zamakhsharī have done,[8] and is alluded to in Mir Ahmed Ali’s translation: ‘It will not decrease for them; dumb with despair they will stay in it.’

Muṣṭafawī concludes that iblās is in the ifʿāl verbal form meaning intense despair, when it arises from a person’s evil actions, and results in profound grief, severe affliction, abasement, and extreme poverty. Since the form afʿala signifies attributing the verbal root to the subject in the mode of emanation or issuing forth – meaning that the focus is on an act arising from, and standing upon, the subject – this morphological pattern conveys volition and intentionality. Thus, the meaning of ablasa is one in whom despair has taken hold and from whom it has issued forth. Therefore, iblās signifies the most extreme and complete degree of despair.[9]

EXPOSITION

Continuing the description of the inhabitants of hellfire, this verse states two descriptions of them: firstly, It will not be lightened for them. Seeing as how the previous verse had already explicitly mentioned that the punishment will be eternal, it would seem more appropriate to understand this phrase as specifically looking at the quality and intensity of the punishment, i.e. the severity of the punishment in the hellfire will never reduce.[10] A similar idea is mentioned in 2:86, their punishment shall not be lightened, nor will they be helped. See also 2:162, 3:88, 16:85, and 35:36.

The Quran reiterates and emphasises that the punishment of the hellfire is not comparable to the suffering a person experiences in this worldly life, for worldly suffering gradually changes and its intensity lessens, and a person becomes accustomed to it and endures it. However, the punishment of the hereafter is not like that; it never abates, Indeed those who defy Our signs, We shall soon make them enter a fire: as often as their skins become scorched, We shall replace them with other skins, so that they may taste the punishment. Indeed Allah is all-mighty, all-wise (4:56).[11]

Secondly, they will be despondent in it. This can either mean they will be despondent and lose hope in the mercy of God[12] or of escaping the hellfire.[13] This can be considered a form of psychological torment that is perhaps more severe than the fire itself, which is assumed to be a physical punishment – though it appears to be both: [It is] the fire of Allah, set ablaze, which will overspread the hearts (104:6-7).[14]

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam Ali (a) is reported to have said: ‘As for the people of sin, they will abide eternally in the fire. Their feet will be shackled, their hands will be chained to their necks, and their bodies will be clothed in garments of scorching pitch. For them are cut portions of the fire. They are in a punishment whose heat has intensified, in a fire that has closed upon its inhabitants – it will never be opened for them, nor will any cool breeze ever reach them, nor will their anguish ever cease. The punishment is ever severe, and the retribution is ever renewed. Neither does the abode perish so that it might vanish, nor are the appointed terms of those people fulfilled.’[15]

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Some exegetes suggest that perhaps what is intended here, based on the linguistic meanings of iblās, is that the evildoers shall fall silent in hellfire due to not having any argument.[16] This explanation seems to go against the proceeding verses which describe their pleas, unless one were to speculate that what is intended is that there would be intervals of silence separated by bouts of pleas.[17]

[1] Qamus, 5/146; Bahrayn, 3/434; Mizan, 18/122.
[2] Rahnama, 17/102.
[3] Amthal, 16/98.
[4] Raghib, p. 143; see also Munjid, p. 48.
[5] Maqayis, 1/299; Jawhari, 3/909; Amili, pp. 140-141.
[6] Maani, p. 138.
[7] Sahifah, supplication 47.
[8] Ibn Ashur, 25/292.
[9] Tahqiq, 1/332.
[10] Razi, 27/643.
[11] Hadi, 3/264.
[12] Tibyan, 9/216.
[13] Mizan, 18/122; Baydawi, 5/96; Tabari, 20/648; Ahsan al-Hadith, 10/51.
[14] Hadi, 3/264.
[15] Qummi, 2/289.
[16] Alusi, 13/101; Maraghi, 25/110; Zamakhshari, 4/264; Jalalayn, 1/499.
[17] Alusi, 13/101-102; Zamakhshari, 4/264.