هٰذِهِ جَهَنَّمُ الَّتي كُنتُم توعَدونَ

This is the hell you had been promised!

EXEGESIS

According to some linguists, jahannam (hell) is an Arabicised word of Persian origin. Others have opined that it is from the Hebrew Gehinnom – Hinnom Valley – where children were burned alive as sacrifices to the idols; it was also an ancient dump outside the city of Jerusalem where the garbage was burned. Later, it was used to indicate the hell of the underworld. In Islamic literature, it is the name of a place in the hereafter where the disobedient will be punished and rehabilitated.^{‎[1]Lane, p. 478.}

In early Jewish and Christian eschatology, Gehenna was believed to be where wrongdoers would be punished by fire in the hereafter. It was similar to jahannam mentioned in the Quran, which is often used synonymously with ‘fire’ (nār).^{‎[2]Paul Achtemeier (ed.), ‘Gehenna’, in Harper's Bible Dictionary, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985.}

EXPOSITION

This verse is the continuation of the address to the followers of Satan on the Day of Judgement who disregarded their covenant with God. They are the guilty ones who were told in verse 59 to Get apart from the people of paradise.

An eloquent ellipsis is used in this verse. After they were told to Get apart and were reminded about the covenant, the verse elides several stages, such as them being judged, condemned, and brought to the brink of hell before being told This is the hell you had been promised. The warning had come to them through multitudes of messengers and prophets; kuntum tūʿadūn means: you were continuously being warned about it.

The separation or getting apart of good from evil and innocent from guilty serves a huge purpose. Hell is a place where corruptions and impurities are accumulated together and set on fire, and then given time to see if their owners are thus purified, And the disbelievers will be gathered toward hell, so that Allah may separate the evil from the good, and place the evil ones on one another, and pile them up together, and cast them into hell. Indeed, they are the losers (8:36-37).

This verse may be explained in two beautiful parables by Prophet Jesus (a): ‘That which occurs in the dominion of God is the simile of the person who sowed good seed in his field. One night while he was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds amongst his wheat seeds and left. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, the weeds also appeared. His servants asked: “Do you want us to pull out the weeds?” He replied: “No, do not do that because while you pull out the weeds, you might uproot the wheat at the same time. Wait until the time when both are ready for harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters to collect the weeds in bundles and burn them; thereafter, they can bring the wheat in for storage.”’^{‎[3]Gospel of Matthew 13:24-30.} ‘Once again, the dominion of heaven can be explained with the following parable; fishermen cast a net into the water and catch all kinds of fish. Then they pull it to the shore and separate the good fish from the bad. They place the good fish in baskets and throw away the bad. At the end of time, this is what will happen also. The angels will come and separate the righteous individuals from the corrupt; they will throw the corrupt into hell where they will lay weeping and gnashing their teeth.’^{‎[4]Gospel of Matthew 13:47-50.}

It is apparent that if any of the inmates of hell abandons their obstinacy and egoism and their existence is no longer a threat to the well-being of others, they will leave hell and enter a life of bliss. The punishments of hell are all designed to dissuade the inmates of hell from their arrogance. It has been narrated from Prophet Muhammad (s): ‘On the Day of Judgement, anyone who has testified to the creed “there is no god but Allah” and whose heart contains an atom’s weight of virtue will be removed from hell.”’ As for those whose hearts did not even have an atom’s weight of goodness, they would never be able to abandon their arrogance and consequently must remain in hell for eternity.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. The Messenger of God said: ‘This fire of yours is one of the seventy parts of the fire of hell (jahannam), and each part of it has its own [intensity of] heat.’^{‎[5]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/468.}
2. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘There is a millstone in hell that grinds [five], so would you not ask what it grinds?’ So he was asked: ‘What does it grind, O Commander of the Faithful?’ He said: ‘The wicked scholars, the immoral reciters, the arrogant tyrants, the treacherous ministers, and the lying sergeants.’^{‎[6]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/483.}
3. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘It is a fire which has breath that does not calm down, its captive is not freed, the broken in it is not restored, its heat is severe, its bottom is deep, and its water is pus.’ He also said: ‘Beware of a fire that is severely hot … and its ornaments are made of iron.’ In addition, he said: ‘Its torture is new, it is an abode with no mercy, no supplication is heard, and there is no relief in it from any suffering.’^{‎[7]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/468.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

The evil-doers consider this world their eternal home, so when they go to hell, they feel like strangers who lose their way and cannot return to their home; they would feel confused, similar to those who lose their minds. Hence, they are reminded that they have reached their promised destination, the final abode, and will get what they were promised.^{‎[8]Razi, 26/101.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.^{‎[9]Revelation 21:8.}
2. “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evil-doer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”^{‎[10]Malachi 4:1-4.}
3. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur, where the beast and the false prophets had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.^{‎[11]Revelation 20:10.}
4. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then, death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.^{‎[12]Revelation 20:12-15.}

[1] Lane, p. 478.
[2] Paul Achtemeier (ed.), ‘Gehenna’, in Harper's Bible Dictionary, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985.
[3] Gospel of Matthew 13:24-30.
[4] Gospel of Matthew 13:47-50.
[5] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/468.
[6] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/483.
[7] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/468.
[8] Razi, 26/101.
[9] Revelation 21:8.
[10] Malachi 4:1-4.
[11] Revelation 20:10.
[12] Revelation 20:12-15.