وَإِنَّ الفُجّارَ لَفي جَحيمٍ
يَصلَونَها يَومَ الدّينِ
وَما هُم عَنها بِغائِبينَ
And indeed the vicious shall be in hell,
entering it on the Day of Retribution,
and they shall not be absent from it.
EXEGESIS
The word fujjār (the vicious) comes from fujūr, and its etymology was explained under verse 3.
EXPOSITION
Jaḥīm is sometimes given in traditions as one of seven specific levels in hellfire, and in general it also means a blazing hot or a fiercely burning fire. In fact, the word jaḥama can also be used to denote an intense, burning desire or covetousness (or in the words of Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) given under the previous verse, ‘the darknesses of lusts’) – which is very interesting because a prophetic tradition states: ‘Paradise is surrounded by loathsome things (makārih) and hellfire is ringed with lustful desires (shahawāt).’
The seven specific names given for hellfire in the Quran are often accompanied with a graphic description explaining for whom the abode is reserved or what is unique about it. Ḥuṭamah (104:4), for example, is the abode of slanderers and wealth-hoarders. It crushes its inhabitants and closes in upon its inhabitants in outstretched columns. Hāwiyah (101:9) is an abyss and a scorching fire. In the case of jaḥīm, it is reserved for those who disbelieve in God and belie His signs (5:10, 5:86, 57:19), or those who contend with the signs of God (22:51), and every rebel who prefers the life of this world over the hereafter (79:39), such as the fujjār described in this verse. The tree of zaqqūm from which the inmates of hell eat, also emerges from the depths of jaḥīm (37:62-6).
God is the master of the Day of Retribution (yawm al-dīn) (1:4). When He expelled Satan from His kingdom, He cursed him until this day (15:35, 38:78). Prophet Abraham (a) (and those like him) hopes his Lord will overlook his lapses on the Day of Retribution (26:82), and whilst those who deny the Day of Retribution in this life will be intensely remorseful when entering hellfire (37:20-21, 51:12, 56:56, 74:46), and those who affirm it will be in gardens held in honour (70:26, 70:35). All these verses, besides this surah (verses 14-15 and 17-19), confirm that the Day of Retribution refers to Judgement Day, when all of humankind is raised for final accounting and recompense.
Besides the Day of Retribution, the Quran uses numerous other adjectives to describe this day, including the Day of Resurrection (yawm al-qiyāmah), the Day of Recompense (yawm al-jazāʾ), and the Day of Accounting (yawm al-ḥisāb).
Verse 14 already mentions the vicious shall be in hell. Therefore, verse 15 – Entering it on the Day of Retribution – would appear to be superfluous unless we interpret it with one of two meanings. First, it may be for emphasis, to stress that the vicious will certainly experience the flames and heat of the fire and will not escape it, and hence the next verse: And they shall not be absent from it.
Or second, with a more mystical understanding, verses 13-14 can be read as: Indeed the pious are amid bliss and indeed the vicious are in hell, meaning that they are already surrounded by their final abode and all that remains is Entering it on the Day of Retribution. This is a valid interpretation because the two verses are given in the Arabic present tense. Though it is common in Arabic grammar for the present tense to be used to express the future, the context here allows room to interpret these verses literally, as they agree with numerous other verses of the Quran that emphasise that man creates his own paradise and hell on earth, and it is only his earthly form that veils him from realising in what he already abides. As soon as he is resurrected and he comes to the next, real, and final world, he finds himself in what he had prepared for himself in this world and what was always his abode. Consider for example the verse, They ask you to hasten the punishment. Yet were it not for a specified time, the punishment would have surely overtaken them. Surely it will overtake them suddenly while they are unaware. They ask you to hasten the punishment, and indeed hell besieges the faithless; on the day when the punishment envelopes them, from above them and from under their feet, and He will say: ‘Taste what you used to do!’ (29:53-55) – notice hellfire already besieges the faithless. It only waits to envelope them on the Day of Judgement, and even when they are made to taste this chastisement it is nothing but their own deeds being given back to them, hence, Taste what you used to do! Or take for example the verse, Indeed those who consume the property of orphans wrongfully, only ingest fire into their bellies, and soon they will enter the blaze (4:10). Notice, ingest fire into their bellies happens now, in the present, even though they are unaware of it. But soon, when they come to the next world, they will enter the blaze that they had ingested in the world by consuming the property of orphans. There are too many such verses for us to ignore and to insist that they all use the present tense to mean the future.
The common understanding of they shall not be absent from it is that the abode of hell is eternal for the vicious and cannot be escaped, similar to the words, and they shall not leave the fire (2:167), or the verse, They would long to leave the fire, but they shall never leave it, and there is a lasting punishment for them (5:37). And this has led exegetes to believe that the vicious mentioned here are exclusively the faithless, for we know from traditions that the unredeemed faithful will not remain in hell eternally. Furthermore, in at least two verses of the Quran (71:27 and 80:42), the vicious (fujjār) are clearly described as being the faithless (kuffār). But it must be noted also that kufr has many meanings besides faithlessness (see Insights from Hadith for 2:6) and they shall not be absent from it could therefore also include the sinful from the faithful, who, though they may eventually come out of hell, shall not be absent from it in the sense that they will not bypass it or find a means to become oblivious to the pain and suffering of the fire, such as through unconsciousness or death, as mentioned in verses such as 14:17 and 87:13.
Furthermore, if we interpret verses 13-14 to mean the pious are already at the gates of paradise even whilst in this world, and the vicious are already on the brink of hellfire, then this verse can also refer to the present, i.e. they shall not be absent from it can be read as: and they are not absent from it.
Some exegetes, such as Zamakhsharī, have instead interpreted this verse as a reference to the intermediate world (barzakh) where the souls of the dead abide until the Day of Judgement. Meaning, while the fujjār will enter the fire on the Day of Retribution (verse 15), they are never absent from it even before that whilst in their graves. This is supported by verses such as 40:46 that speak of the Pharaoh and his clan being exposed to a fire even now, every morning and evening, and on Judgement Day they will enter the severest punishment. Such an interpretation also agrees with the prophetic tradition: ‘The grave is a garden from the gardens of paradise or a pit from the pits of the fire,’ to which al-Nawawī adds that the fujjār are not absent from punishment ‘even for the blink of an eye and even before they enter hell they will find its hot winds (samūm) in their graves’.
This of course does not oppose the understanding that people are already surrounded by the paradise and hellfire they have made for themselves in this world. Rather, what it means is that their awareness of their true abode is increased after death and is even more acute on the Day of Resurrection, and that is why, after stating that they are in hell in this world (verse 14) and not absent from it even in the intermediate world (verse 16), they actually enter it fully on the Day of Retribution (verse 15).
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- From Imam al-Ṣādiq (a): ‘A man came to Abū Dharr (r) and asked: “Abū Dharr, how do you see our state before God to be?” “Measure your deeds,” he replied, “using the book [of God], for God says: Indeed the pious shall be amid bliss, and indeed the vicious shall be in hell [verses 13-14].” The man asked: “Where, then, is the mercy of God?” “The mercy of God is close to those who submit (muslimīn),” he replied.’
- From Muhammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, from Imam al-Hasan (a): ‘In all that is in the book of God, the mighty and glorious, such as His words, Indeed the righteous (abrār) … by Allah, He did not intend anyone except Ali ibn Abī Ṭālib, Fatimah, myself, and al-Husayn. For we are the most righteous (abrār) of our fathers and mothers. Our hearts have been taught obedience and piety and are disassociated from the world. We obeyed Allah in all His commandments; we believed in His unity, and attested to His Apostle.’
- From Imam al-Bāqir (a) concerning the words, Indeed the pious shall be amid bliss and indeed the vicious shall be in hell, he said: ‘The abrār are we, us; and the fujjār are our enemies.’
Note: These two traditions agree with what many Sunni traditionists have reported concerning the verse, it is they who are the best of creatures (khayr al-bariyyah) (98:7), that it refers to Imam Ali (a) and his Shias, and that after the Prophet called Imam Ali (a) such, whenever the companions of the Prophet would see Imam Ali (a) approaching, they would remark: ‘The best of creatures (khayr al-bariyyah) has come.’ For references to these traditions see Insights from Hadith for 98:7. These traditions are also from the traditions of the flow (jary) as explained under the Review of Tafsīr Literature section for 2:3.
[1] The seven specific levels and names of hellfire are: saʿīr (76:4), saqar (74:27), laẓā (70:15), ḥuṭamah (104:4), hāwiyah (101:9), jahannam (4:140), and jaḥīm (83:16).
[2] Munjid.
[3] Munjid.
[4] Bihar, 67/78, h. 12; Bukhari, 8/76, h. 494.
[5] Zamakhshari, 4/717.
[6] Alusi, 15/271; Nawawi, 2/610; Kafi, 3/242, h. 2.
[7] Nawawi, 2/610.
[8] Kafi, 2/458, h. 20.
[9] Manaqib, 4/2.
[10] Bihar, 24/2, h. 5.