فَسَوفَ يَدعو ثُبورًا
He will pray for annihilation.
EXEGESIS
Thubūr (annihilation) is a verbal noun from the verb thabara, and means annihilation and destruction. It originally means to be confined, specifically to a situation of extreme difficulty that one wishes to escape from. Hence, for example, the place where a camel goes to give birth is called the mathbir, because of the intense difficulty. Mathbarah is a soil resembling lime; when the roots of the palm tree reach it, they stop growing because it destroys them. It is therefore also used to describe being stuck in a situation where one sees no escape, like in the verse, O Pharaoh, indeed, I think you are doomed (mathbūr) (17:102).
Here it describes the intense difficulty of being confined to hell, with the feeling of desperation that one cannot find any way out of it, resulting in the person wishing (yadʿū) they would be destroyed completely (thubūr), as they see destruction as their only escape.
EXPOSITION
The significance of being handed their book in the manner mentioned in the previous verse is not lost on the wicked, and their apprehension will grow greatly. At some point they will realise that they have condemned themselves to hell by their actions, and they will wish for an end to their existence so that they may escape its terrible punishment, the day when a person will observe what his hands have sent ahead and the faithless one will say: ‘I wish I were dust!’ (78:40). This futile hope for destruction will not leave their hearts, and in hell they will continue to wish for it, when they are cast into a narrow place in it, bound together [in chains], they will pray for [their own] annihilation (thubūr) (25:13). However, there is no escape from the punishment of hell for them, as death will not release anyone from it, Then he will neither live in it, nor die (87:13), because the punishment of hell is enduring (25:65). The expression of this verse hence encapsulates the utter sense of helplessness faced by the wicked on that day. See also 25:13-14.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- ‘Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the commanding officers and the strong and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come. Who is able to withstand it?”’
TOPICAL ARTICLES
Wishing for Destruction
There is also something to be said about the calling out (duʿāʾ) that they make. Rather than praying – or more accurately here, wishing and hoping – for mercy or forgiveness and entry to paradise, they call out for destruction as a way of release. It is not that they are unaware of God’s expansive mercy or the amazing bliss of paradise. They will certainly have seen how many people were forgiven and joyfully received their books and were genuinely surprised how much God had treated them with kindness and honour. They are also witnesses to the beauty and splendour of paradise, for the people of hell will be able to see glimpses of it as a form of psychological punishment. So, the question is: why do they pray for destruction rather than praying for forgiveness and entry to paradise?
We read in the Quran that they do pray for various other things. For example, they will pray to be returned to this world (6:27), or that their punishment should be lessened: Those in the fire will say to the keepers of hell: ‘Supplicate your Lord to lighten for us [at least] a day’s punishment.’ They will say: ‘Did not your apostles use to bring you manifest proofs?’ They will say: ‘Yes.’ They will say: ‘Then supplicate [Him] yourselves.’ But the supplications of the faithless only go awry (40:49-50).
That is not granted to them of course, just like none of their other requests are granted to them. This is the apparent meaning of their supplication going awry (fī ḍalāl). However, going awry also means that their supplication is not the correct kind of supplication, because they do not know how supplicate properly. We also read about them admitting to their folly, they will say: ‘Had we listened or applied reason, we would not have been among inmates of the blaze’ (67:10), but even then, we are not told of them pleading for forgiveness.
The reason for that is because a person on the Day of Judgement will be as he was in this life. The one who turned away from God and never paid any attention to Him and did his best to ignore Him and never sincerely prayed to Him, will be the same in the hereafter; No indeed! Rather, their hearts have been sullied by what they have been earning. No indeed! They will be alienated (maḥjūbūn) from their Lord on that day. (83:14-15) They will be veiled (maḥjūb) from the mercy of God on that day and unable to connect to it because of what they did in this life. The one who forgets God will be forgotten by Him (20:125-126).
This reality is crystallised in their inability to prostrate to Him that day: and they are summoned to prostrate themselves, they will not be able [to do it]. With a humbled look [in their eyes], they will be overcast by abasement. Certainly, they were summoned to prostrate themselves while they were yet sound (68:42-43). In panic they will look around at the believers prostrating but will be physically unable to do it; this is the result and consequence of their refusal to willingly prostrate in this life. This inability to connect with the divine mercy of God will become manifest in the hereafter, and hence they will somehow be physically unable to do some of those things which aid in connecting with it or to plead for His forgiveness. Because of this, when they face the extreme difficulty of that day, they will turn to those things which they turned to in this life. This may be those partners which they ascribed to Him in this life (18:52), or it may be to seek self-destruction. In this life, when a person who does not believe in God faces a situation where they feel they are truly hopeless and there is no way out of their difficulties, they might turn to suicide, as a final recourse (in their view). This same attitude that is engrained in their being will manifest itself there as this plea for destruction, Those who deny the signs of Allah and the encounter with Him, they have despaired of My mercy, and for such there is a painful punishment (29:23).
This is also the reason why a believer should and would never lose hope but will always keep trusting in the mercy of God (12:87, 65:2) and rely on Him for support.
[1] Tibyan, 10/310; Tabari, 30/75; Zamakhshari, 4/726; Muhit, 10/438; Mizan, 20/243; Raghib, p. 171, th-b-r; Bahrayn, 3/235, th-b-r.
[2] Lisan, 4/99, th-b-r.
[3] Tahqiq, 2/9-10, th-b-r.
[4] Tibyan, 10/310; Lisan, 4/99, th-b-r.
[5] Tibyan, 10/310.
[6] Lisan, 4/99, th-b-r; Tahqiq, 2/9-10, th-b-r. Because Pharaoh felt like he had no good solution in sight to the crisis he was facing. By not accepting Islam, he was hence confining and dooming himself to the only possible outcome: his destruction.
[7] See also 43:77.
[8] Revelation 6:15-17.