-->
See n. 4003 to xxxvi. 57.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "such as restrain their gaze", i.e., are of modest bearing and have eyes only for their mates (Razi). This allegorical reference to the delights of paradise occurs in the Qur'an three times (apart from the above instance, which is chronologically the earliest, in 37:48 and 55:56 as well). As an allegory, this phrase evidently applies to the righteous of both sexes, who in the life to come will be rejoined with those whom they loved and by whom they were loved in this world: for, "God has promised the believers, both men and women, gardens through which running waters flow, therein to abide, and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetual bliss" ( 9:72 ); and, "anyone - be it man or woman - who does [whatever he can] of good deeds and is a believer withal, shall enter paradise" ( 4:124 , with similar statements in 16:97 and 40:40 ). Finally, we are told in 36:56 that in this paradise "will they and their spouses on couches recline" - i.e., will find peace and inner fulfilment with and in one another. (For an explanation of the term atrab rendered by me as "well-matched", see note [15] on 56:38 .)
Cf. xxxvii. 48 and n. 4064, and xxxvi. 56, n. 4002. As we conceive happiness in this life, it is not complete if it is only solitary. How we hanker after some one who can share in our highest joy! That feeling is also figured here.
To make the social happiness complete, we want companionship of equal age. Age and youth cannot be happy together. It is not suggested that in the Timeless state figured here, there will be old age; but if it is possible to conceive of temperamental differences then, the company will be so arranged that it will be congenial. Or we can accept the type of youth and freshness as common to all in that happy state.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
This is in parallel contrast to the state of the Blessed in xxxviii. 49 above.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Cf. xiv. 29. This continues the parallel contrast to the state of the Blessed already described.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Cf. x. 4, and n. 1390. The conjunction of the boiling fluid with the dark, murky, intensely cold fluid heightenes the effect of the Penalty. In place of harmony, there is the discord of extreme opposites. And the discord is not confined to this: it runs through the whole idea of Hell. See the next verse.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "of its kind": i.e., corresponding in intensity to what the Qur'an describes as hamim and ghassaq. For my rendering of hamim as "burning despair", see surah {6}, note [62]. The term ghassaq, on the other hand, is derived from the verb ghasaqa, "it became dark" or "intensely dark" (Taj al-'Arus); thus, al-ghasiq denotes "black darkness" and, tropically, "the night" or, rather, "the black night". According to some authorities, the form ghassaq signifies "intense [or "icy"] cold". A combination of these two meanings gives us the concept of the "ice-cold darkness" of the spirit which, together with "burning despair" (hamim), will characterize the suffering of inveterate sinners in the life to come. All other interpretations of the term ghasseq are purely speculative and, therefore, irrelevant.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
I.e., "people whom you had seduced, and who thereupon blindly followed you": an apostrophe stressing the double responsibility of the seducers.
In Arabic usage, the phrase "no welcome to them" or "to you" (la marhaban bihim, resp. bikum) is equivalent to a curse. In this context - carried on into the next verse - it expresses a mutual disavowal of the seducers and the seduced.
Meaning, they are not welcome since their presence in Hell with us will not benefit us in anyway.
The wonder is that so many people should embrace Evil, and in so much hurry and eagerness! Here they may be welcomed by the leaders of Evil, but in the final state it will be the opposite of welcome. They will be followed with reproaches and curses.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
It is the nature of Evil to shift the blame on to others. The followers will reproach the leaders, but none can escape personal responsibility for his own acts and deeds!
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Cf. 7:38 (and the corresponding notes [28] and [29]) as well as {33:67-68}.
Cf. vii. 38, and n. 1019. See also xi. 20. The evil ones now vent their spite on others. Here they ask for a double penalty for their misleaders, but they forget their own personal responsibility. In the next verse, they express their surprise that others have escaped the torments, which they themselves have earned!
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
The bad ones: i.e., the ones whom they (evil ones) ridiculed as fools sure to come to an evil end, because they refused to join in with the evil ones in their plots. The values are now reversed. The good ones are among the Blessed, and are not to be seen in the "Bed of Misery". The ridicule is now against the evil ones.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
I.e., the prophets and the righteous, who - as the Qur'an points out in many places - have always been derided by people enamoured of the life of this world and, therefore, averse to all moral exhortation.
In other words, did we underestimate them?
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
The mutual recriminations and spite are themselves a part of the Penalty, for such feelings increase their unhappiness.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Cf. xii. 39, where Joseph preaches to the men in prison. The one supreme Message of importance to mankind was (and is) the Unity of Allah: that He is the Creator and Sustainer of all: that His Will is supreme; that He can carry out His Will without question, and no powers of Evil can defeat it; and that He forgives by His grace again and again. This Message the holy Prophet came to deliver, and he delivered it.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.