تَصلىٰ نارًا حامِيَةً

They will enter a scorching fire.

EXEGESIS

Taṣlā (they enter) is from ṣalā which is to roast or burn. So the verse literally means: They will burn in a scorching fire. Taṣlā is given in the feminine form to match the irregular plural faces (wujūh) in verse 1; this type of plural is always treated as feminine.^{‎[1]Qummi, 2/418.}

Ḥāmiyah (scorching) is from the root ḥamma, meaning to heat something. Most derivatives of this verb suggest heat. Fever, for example, is ḥummah, and lava or embers are called ḥumam. Ḥāmiyah, therefore, suggests a fire of intense heat and at the zenith of its limits.^{‎[2]Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Nawawi, 2/625; Safi, 5/320.} See also the Exegesis of 69:35 for the meaning of ḥamīm.

EXPOSITION

They will enter a scorching fire, and this shall be their abode, but not their only chastisement. Their drink and food are described in the subsequent verses.

Drawing from the term ḥamaʾ (mud, mire, sludge) that shares a root with ḥāmiyah (scorching), many explain this verse as: They will wade in the fire as a camel wades in mud and sinks in mire,^{‎[3]Thalabi, 10/188.} or: Their sinking in hell will be like the camel stuck in mire and mud, lifting itself one moment and sinking in again the other.^{‎[4]Razi, 31/139.} Ālūsī gives us the imagery of them being like ‘shackled camels struggling to free themselves, whilst stuck in mud, ascending and descending in its mountains and hills’.^{‎[5]Alusi, 15/325.}

Rāzī also explains taṣlā as clinging to the fire,^{‎[6]Razi, 31/139; Lane, under ṣ-l-y also offers the meaning lazima (to cling to something) for taṣlā (p. 1721).} and Ibn Arabi understands the fire as resulting from the traces of one’s animal nature;^{‎[7]Ibn Arabi, 2/427.} the fire scorches and torments to the degree that one’s psyche is burnt and inscribed with sinful desires and evil traits in this world. The idea of negative traits burning the soul or the need for burning to purge the negative traits from the souls of the wicked is appealing; even as an Arabic expression, to make someone undergo the most excruciating pangs of jealousy, for example, is expressed as iṣlāhu nāran min al-ghayrah (he roasted him with a fire from jealousy).^{‎[8]Hans Wehr, under ṣ-l-y.}

See also the Exposition of 69:32 for Mulla Sadra’s esoteric explanation of the chains in hell as a manifestation of addictions that one is shackled to in this world.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. From Imam Ali (a): ‘Do act for the day for which provisions are stored and when all secrets will be laid bare … dread the fire whose heat is intense, whose pit is deep, whose dress is iron, and whose drink is pus.’^{‎[9]Nahj, sermon 120.}
2. From Imam Ali (a): ‘Therefore fear the fire whose pit is deep, whose heat is intense, and whose punishment is novel. There is no mercy in it. No call is heard in it and no pain is healed in it.’^{‎[10]Nahj, letter 27.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Several exegetes^{‎[11]Razi, 31/139; Tabrisi, 10/724; Tibyan, 10/334.} have noted that some have recited the verb taṣlā in the passive as tuṣlā, so that instead of They will enter (or ‘they will burn’), the verse would read: They will be made to enter (or ‘they will be burnt’). Verses like 37:163 and 111:3 are quoted to support the former, whereas verses like 4:115 and 69:31 suggest the latter meaning.

The debate hinges on whether those destined for hellfire will condemn themselves to hell or will be forced to enter and abide in it. The need to change taṣlā to tuṣlā however is unnecessary because both can be true at once. Verses like 25:13-14 do suggest the wretched being chained and flung into the fire, however verses such as 6:130, 7:37, 36:65, and 67:11 also tell us that the wretched will bear testimony against themselves and bear witness to their own iniquities. So, whereas God admits the righteous to paradise and imprisons the wicked in hell, the pleasures of paradise and torments of hell in themselves are nothing but the actions of people being paid back to them (27:90, 29:55, 36:54, 37:39, 45:28, 52:16, 53:40, 66:7), as a metamorphosis and physical embodiment of the deeds they persisted in whilst in this world.

[1] Qummi, 2/418.
[2] Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Nawawi, 2/625; Safi, 5/320.
[3] Thalabi, 10/188.
[4] Razi, 31/139.
[5] Alusi, 15/325.
[6] Razi, 31/139; Lane, under ṣ-l-y also offers the meaning lazima (to cling to something) for taṣlā (p. 1721).
[7] Ibn Arabi, 2/427.
[8] Hans Wehr, under ṣ-l-y.
[9] Nahj, sermon 120.
[10] Nahj, letter 27.
[11] Razi, 31/139; Tabrisi, 10/724; Tibyan, 10/334.