كَلّا ۖ لَيُنبَذَنَّ فِي الحُطَمَةِ

No! Indeed, he will surely be cast into the crusher.

EXEGESIS

The particle kallā used at the beginning of this verse functions to negate the purport of a sentence that comes before it and emphasises the confirmation and the validity of the sentence after it.^{‎[1]ttps://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar... See footnotes.} Therefore, the use of it in this verse indicates that the Quran does not reject the immortality of man, but rather it rejects the immortality assumed by the evildoers and warns them of immortality in hellfire. Thus, God promises an immortal life for that person, however, a very different type of immortal life than what he had imagined, and in a different place – a severely painful and terrifying place in the hellfire of the hereafter. 

La-yunbadhanna (he will surely be cast); the preposition la indicates an oath and is used for emphasis. Yunbadhanna is in passive form from the verbal noun nabdh, which means to cast away, throw away, or forsake and avoid. Manbūdh is a passive participle of the root, which means someone or something that is rejected, unwanted, disliked, and so on.^{‎[2]https://www.almaany.com/quran/104/4/2/.} The context of this surah indicates the reason why such a person is rejected and thrown into hellfire.

Ḥuṭamah is an intensive form of an active participle derived from the verb ḥatama, which literally means to wreck, to demolish, to devour, and to crush, hence, the translation of ḥuṭamah is typically rendered as crusher or devourer. It also means to hurt each other in a heavily crowded place. This can be seen when some people hurt each other to kiss the Black Stone of the Kaaba, and that may be the reason for calling the area beside it al-Ḥaṭīm. The derived nouns from the verb could also mean the weakness caused by the ageing of a human, or the wreckage caused by strong winds, or the crushed grass left after the grazing of cattle.^{‎[3]https://www.almaany.com/quran/104/4/4/.}

Ḥuṭamah is something that crushes, destroys, or breaks aggressively and violently. It is one of the names of hellfire as stated in the next verse.^{‎[4]Mizan, 20/358.}

EXPOSITION

The description of ḥuṭamah as a crusher and a demolisher is a very apt punishment for an arrogant person, who thinks nothing could diminish him as long as he has his wealth, and who boasts over others. However, this ḥuṭamah will drag him down and crush him and his ego. It leaves nothing intact and exempts none from those who are thrown into it.^{‎[5]Zuḥaylī, al-Tafsīr al-Munīr fī al-ʿAqīdah wa al-Sharīʿah, wa al-Manhaj (Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 1997), 30/400.} Even the phrase cast into, is relevant to the nature of the crimes he had committed – he used to degrade others with his insulting remarks, mocked them by his expressions, and subjected them to backbiting – and since he used to ‘cast away’ and disregard the dignity of others, he will be cast into^{‎[6]Mudarrisi, 18/344.} the crushing dumpster of the hellfire in an insulting manner.^{‎[7]Mudarrisi, vol. 18.} Therefore, it will be done to him as he did to others.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘There is a fire in hell from which the people of hell seek refuge, and that has not been created except for every arrogant, stubborn oppressor, and every rebellious devil, and for every arrogant person that does not believe in the Day of Reckoning, and everyone who has animosity towards the Ahl al-Bayt (a).’^{‎[8]Bihar, 8/295, h. 44.}
2. The Prophet has said: ‘The least painful punishment for the people of hell is that they are given sandals made of fire to wear, which boil their brains.’^{‎[9]Kanz, h. 39507 and 28977.}
3. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘The minimum punishment for the people on the Day of Judgement would be in a shallow fire, wearing two sandals made from fire, which has two straps that would be made of fire. Their brain will be boiling as the boiling of a copper pot. They would think that no one in hellfire has a more severe punishment than theirs; however, there would [actually] be no one in hellfire who would have a lesser punishment than theirs.’^{‎[10]Bihar, 8/295, h. 44, and 8/316, h. 96.}

Note: Imagine then the severity of the situation of the arrogant in the deep abyss of ḥuṭamah.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Ḥuṭamah being a fire kindled by God can be related with verses 2:24, 3:10, and 66:6, which indicate that the fuel of the entire hellfire are men and stones.^{‎[11]Mustanbiṭ, Mawāhib al-Raḥmān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 1/1127.} Since Wayl is the lowest layer of the base of the valley of hell, where the foul and filthy pus discharged from the people of hell is collected, one can imagine it as the sewer of hell. This valley could be the furnace of hell, from where it is fuelled. Those who were arrogant and thought that they were above the weak, and therefore bullied and mocked them, would be thrown into the lowest place in hell so as to be the fuel for it, and they are burnt in a way that they release fire from themselves to heat the hellfire. An example of this would be a piece of charcoal that can be considered a stone, which is ignited at the beginning with a small flame of fire from a match, and afterwards becomes a source of heat. It releases heat and becomes the fuel of the oven.

Since hell has seven gates (15:44), some exegetes^{‎[12]Māwardī, al-Nukat wa al-ʿUyūn Tafsīr al-Māwardī (Beirut: DKI, 1992), 6/335.} consider ḥuṭamah to be the sixth gate of hell, or its fourth level, or one of the names of hell itself.^{‎[13]Tafsīr al-ʿIzz Bin ʿAbd al-Salām, 2/378.} On the other hand, if ḥuṭamah exists in the valley of Wayl, considering the context of the surah, the strongest probability would be that it is the demolishing fire located in the deepest place in hell, and its closing gates are columns of fire.^{‎[14]Mustanbiṭ, Mawāhib al-Raḥmān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 1/291.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or thatthou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest andspeakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.^{‎[15]Psalms 50:16-22.}

[1]https://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/%D9%83%D9%8E%D9%84%D9%91%D9%8E%D8%A7/?c=%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8.
[2] https://www.almaany.com/quran/104/4/2/.
[3] https://www.almaany.com/quran/104/4/4/.
[4] Mizan, 20/358.
[5] Zuḥaylī, al-Tafsīr al-Munīr fī al-ʿAqīdah wa al-Sharīʿah, wa al-Manhaj (Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 1997), 30/400.
[6] Mudarrisi, 18/344.
[7] Mudarrisi, vol. 18.
[8] Bihar, 8/295, h. 44.
[9] Kanz, h. 39507 and 28977.
[10] Bihar, 8/295, h. 44, and 8/316, h. 96.
[11] Mustanbiṭ, Mawāhib al-Raḥmān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 1/1127.
[12] Māwardī, al-Nukat wa al-ʿUyūn Tafsīr al-Māwardī (Beirut: DKI, 1992), 6/335.
[13] Tafsīr al-ʿIzz Bin ʿAbd al-Salām, 2/378.
[14] Mustanbiṭ, Mawāhib al-Raḥmān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 1/291.
[15] Psalms 50:16-22.