فَاليَومَ لا يُؤخَذُ مِنكُم فِديَةٌ وَلا مِنَ الَّذينَ كَفَروا ۚ مَأواكُمُ النّارُ ۖ هِيَ مَولاكُم ۖ وَبِئسَ المَصيرُ
So today no ransom shall be taken from you, nor from the faithless. The fire will be your abode: it is your [ultimate] refuge and an evil destination.’
EXEGESIS
Once again, So today opens the verse, similar to verses 12-13, to emphasise the significance and decisiveness of the Day of Judgement in determining everyone’s final and eternal abode and the final reaping of what every soul had sown in this world.
The words in this verse are still those of the faithful to the hypocrites, continuing from the previous verse. But now the faithless are included along with the hypocrites: no ransom shall be taken from you, nor from the faithless.
Fidyah (ransom) is property given as a substitute or ransom for a captive who is therewith liberated. In Islamic law, fidyah is the expiation offered to make up for missed obligations, such as a compulsory fast (2:184) or hajj ritual (2:196). More literally, it is what one gives to preserve oneself from harm. That would be its precise meaning in this verse.
In other verses, this fidyah, which the wrongdoers would offer on Judgement Day to save themselves from punishment if they could, is described as a world of gold (3:91), whatever there is on the earth (10:54), all that is on the earth and as much of it besides (5:36, 13:18, 39:47), and at the price of his children, his spouse, his brother, his kin which had sheltered him, and all those who are upon the earth, if that might deliver him (70:11-14), and yet all these verses conclude that even if such a ransom were available to them to offer, it would never be accepted from them. Instead, every soul shall be held hostage to what it has earned in the world (74:38). And no friend will inquire about [the welfare of his] friend, [though] they will be placed within each other’s sight (70:10-11).
If the hypocrites had any hope of joining the faithful or getting past the wall (verse 13) that keeps them exposed to the fire, their eternal doom is now made clear to them: The fire will be your abode (maʾwā): it is your [ultimate] refuge (mawlā) and an evil destination (maṣīr) (verse 15).
The word abode is given as maʾwā – most commonly used in the Quran when referring to hellfire (3:151, 3:162, 3:197, 4:97, 4:121, 5:72, 8:16, 9:73, 9:95, 10:8, 13:18, 17:97, 24:57, 29:25, 32:20, 45:34, 57:15, 66:9, 79:39), but a term that does not, in and of itself, have a negative connotation. Paradise is also described as the garden of the Abode (jannat al-maʾwā) (32:19, 53:15, 79:41).
Maʾwā is a place to which one betakes himself (yaʾwī ilayh) for lodging or refuge; a shelter, a resting place, or a dwelling. It is from the verb awā, which is to seek shelter or refuge, to put up somewhere, or even to go to bed.[1] It is also used to refer to the resting place for domestic animals like camels, sheep, or goats.[2]
In many other verses, abode and the place of refuge is given as mathwā,[3] also a dwelling or place of rest, from the verb thawā, which signifies to stay, live, settle down, remain forever. And it, too, has a neutral meaning that can have a positive or negative connotation. Like maʾwā, the Quran uses it mostly to refer to hellfire (3:151, 6:128, 16:29, 29:68, 39:32, 39:60, 39:72, 40:76, 41:24, 47:12, 47:19), but also with a positive meaning (12:21, 12:23).
And your [ultimate] refuge is given as mawlākum. The word mawlā possesses a vast meaning. Often translated as master or guardian, its etymology from the root awlā means one who is more deserving or worthy (awlā bi-shayʾ) or having a greater right or being more fit for it (aḥaqqu bi-hi).[4] In Arab custom, a tribe or man of prominence who gave protection to a person who did not belong to a prominent tribe was referred to as his mawlā (or its synonym walī) because he is more deserving to attend to the affairs of the one under his guardianship. In the right context, the opposite was also applicable, meaning the client, or even slave, was called the mawlā of his protector because he was most fit to attend to the affairs of his master and to obey him.
Thus, an heir is the mawlā or walī of his deceased relative because he protects and manages their affairs and estate posthumously. And a saint is called walī of Allah because he is in constant obedience to his Lord. But conversely, God is his guardian and the best suited to protect him, and therefore He is the mawlā of the faithful (3:150, 66:2) and the best mawlā (8:40).
Given this bidirectional meaning, in the case of this verse, mawlākum is therefore understood as either ‘it [hell] is the place you most deserve’ or, conversely, ‘it is the place most deserving of [having] you and attending to your needs’.
Biʾs (evil) has its origin from baʾisa (to be miserable, wretched) and buʾs (misery, wretchedness, suffering, distress).[5] Biʾs implies the very worst. It is always used negatively, to mean that which is blameworthy, just like niʿm is always used in the praiseworthy sense (as a blessing (niʿmah)).[6] It may be applied to an evil man (biʾs al-rajul) or a variety of undesirable matters such as Evil (biʾs) is that for which they sold their souls (2:90), and evil (biʾs) is what they had been doing (5:62, 5:79), hell as an evil (biʾs) abode (14:29, 16:29), and even Satan who, for those that would take him as a guardian, as an evil substitute (biʾs badala) to God (18:50).
Maṣīr (destination), which was briefly explained earlier under verse 5, is a place or even a state or condition to which a person or thing eventually comes. It implies a place where people alight and abide, a place to which waters come or take their course, or even a place of herbage or pasture. For a more subtle definition of maṣīr (with a ṣād) as opposed to masīr (with the letter sīn), see the Exposition.
EXPOSITION
The last word in this verse – destination – is given as al-maṣīr. This is similar to al-masīr with the Arabic letter sīn instead of ṣād but with a subtle yet important difference.
Masīr from sāra (verb), sayr, and sayrūrah, implies to set out, travel, journey, depart, and so on. It is also to follow a course, conduct, or way of life,[7] and hence the sīrah of Prophet Muhammad (s) is a record of his life history and how he conducted himself. The Quran often urges people to travel (sīrū) on the earth and learn from the history of those before them (3:137, 6:11, 12:109, 16:36, 27:69, 30:9, 30:42, 35:44, 40:21, 40:82, 47:10) or, develop thereby the means by which one can attain truth (22:46, 29:20), but it never uses this term for the journey to the hereafter, or the march toward God or one’s final abode. This is because masīr, in and of itself, is not transformative. It is encouraged and undertaken with the hope that one will then encounter opportunities for self-growth.
Maṣīr on the other hand, with the heavier letter ṣād, from ṣāra (verb), ṣayr, and ṣayrūrah, implies to become something, to begin, commence, start, come to pass, occur, and so on. The travelling and journeying here include growth, evolution, arriving, and resulting in something. Ṣayrūrah or maṣīr are therefore understood as the process or act of becoming.[8] In other words, maṣīr is a transformation, a change in state, into something more final. The Quran uses this term, mostly, either when speaking of the return of all things to God (2:285, 3:28, 5:18, 22:48, 24:42, 31:14, 35:18, 40:3, 42:15, 42:53, 50:43, 60:4, 64:3) or for hellfire as the final destination of the wicked (2:126, 3:162, 4:97, 4:115, 8:16, 9:73, 14:30, 22:72, 24:57, 48:6, 58:8, 64:10, 66:9, 67:6) as in this verse. It is, however, also used to refer to paradise as the ultimate destination (25:15).
The journey toward one’s final abode is, therefore, not merely a travel (masīr) but a transformation, a change, and a destiny (maṣīr), from one state of perfection to another, until one arrives at their final state and maṣīr, either God’s full presence (paradise) or eternal damnation (hellfire).
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Concerning the words So today no ransom shall be taken from you, Qummī has said: ‘By Allah, it does not refer to the Jews or Christians but it refers to [the hypocrites from] the people of qibla (ahl al-qiblah),’[9] meaning the Muslims, which is what most exegetes would agree with, given the context and words such as: Did we not use to be with you? (verse 14). For a more detailed Exposition on no ransom shall be taken from you, see 3:91.
The fact that hellfire is a resting place (maʾwā) for the vicious, where they seek refuge, implies that their souls are incapable of finding rest in a place of bliss and tranquillity. They survive on negativity and hatred, on complaints and blame, on fighting and cursing, such that they cannot survive elsewhere. Hence, Ibn Arabi believed even hell is God’s mercy for the unjust since that is where they find rest and are most suited to abide. And this, he argues, is because God Himself declares: My mercy embraces all things (7:156), and He has made mercy incumbent upon Himself (6:12), and therefore everything will find its final resting place with mercy because mercy is real and all else is unreal: ‘The final issue will be at mercy because the actual situation inscribes a circle. The end of the circle curves back to the beginning and joins it. The end has the property of the beginning, and that is nothing but Being. Mercy takes precedence over wrath because the beginning was through mercy. Wrath is an accident, and accidents disappear.’[10]
In Tabatabai’s understanding, mawlā is also one whose orders one follows. The hypocrites and the faithless used to hanker after and obey their desires for unlawful food, drink, cloth, pleasure, and all that whose reality was the fire.[11] So today, their mawlā is the same fire that has prepared for them food from zaqqūm (37:62, 44:43, 56:52), a purulent burning fluid to drink (14:16-7, 18:29), garments from molten copper (14:50), and their companions will be the devils (43:38) chained to them. This thought agrees with the prophetic tradition: ‘Paradise is surrounded with hardships while hell is ringed with lusts.’[12]
For Nasr, that the fire shall be their master (mawlā) implies both that it has complete control over them, and it is what is nearest to them (awlā bi-him), that is, to their true nature.[13]
Rāzī has commented on this verse saying it is true that mawlā can mean one who is superior to others and more deserving but that is just one of its many meanings and not the exegesis of this verse. He is responding to the Shia scholar Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, whom Rāzī quotes as saying if we accept mawlā as one who is superior and more deserving, then the unanimous and authentic prophetic tradition: ‘Whoever’s mawlā I am, this Ali is his mawlā,’ proves that the caliphate was the right of Ali ibn Abī Ṭālib (a) after the Apostle of God.[14]
We cannot however ignore the meaning of mawlā as ‘more deserving’ in this verse, as Rāzī would have liked us to. This is because, if we restrict mawlā to only mean a ‘refuge’ for the faithless in this verse, then it would contradict another verse that reads: and because the faithless have no mawlā (47:11). The only way to remove this apparent incongruity between the two verses is if we interpret mawlā in 47:11 as guardian, protector, or refuge as is its intended meaning, since the faithless have no guardian or refuge, and interpret mawlā here (in verse 15) as ‘more deserving’, meaning hellfire is a place most deserving for and of the faithless rather than a place of refuge.
[1] Hans Wehr, ʾ-w-y.
[2] Lane, ʾ-w-y.
[3] Mathwā as abode is also used with a positive connotation, as in 12:23.
[4] Lane, w-l-y.
[5] Raghib, b-ʾ-s.
[6] Raghib, b-ʾ-s.
[7] Hans Wehr, s-y-r.
[8] Hans Wehr, ṣ-y-r.
[9] Qummi, 2/351.
[10] Ibn Arabi, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyyah (Cairo, 1911), 4/405.
[11] Mizan, 19/158.
[12] Nahj, sermon 176.
[13] Nasr, p. 1335.
[14] Razi, 29/459-460.