وَسَيُجَنَّبُهَا الأَتقَى

And the most God-wary shall be spared it.

EXEGESIS

Sayujannabuhā (shall be spared it); yujannabuhā is in passive form prefixed by sa giving the sense of near future. The infinitive tajannub means to avoid and distance from something; and the pronoun hā (it) in sayujannabuhā refers to hellfire. The passive sense implies that being spared from the fire is an act of God and His grace.

The word atqā is in the superlative form and comes from the root verb waqaya which means to protect, and thus atqā literally means the one who protects the most. Exegetes have differed over what exactly is the object of protection. Some have said it refers to protection from polytheism whilst others maintain that it refers to protection from both polytheism and sin.^{‎[1]Daqaiq, 14/309.}

EXPOSITION

According to Tabatabai, this verse can be understood as saying that there are different groups of people who are protecting themselves from different things. For example, some are protecting their lives from death and sacrifice, others are protecting their wealth from being exhausted by not spending in charitable causes, whilst others are seeking protection from the wrath of Allah and thus spend their wealth for His sake. The verse is saying that the one who protects himself the most from amongst these groups is the one who protects from disobeying God and entering the hellfire.^{‎[2]Mizan, 20/306.} Based on this understanding, al-atqā would be translated as God-wary and not the most God-wary. The superlative could also indicate that the one being described here is the one who is God-wary specifically through charity, not by other good deeds.^{‎[3]Mizan, 20/306.}

[1] Daqaiq, 14/309.
[2] Mizan, 20/306.
[3] Mizan, 20/306.