Ṣād

هَذَا وَإِنَّ لِلطَّاغِينَ لَشَرَّ مَأَبٍ

جَهَنَّمَ يَصْلَوْنَهَا فَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ

هَذَا فَلْيَذُوقُوهُ حَمِيمٌ وَغَسَّاقٌ

55. “This (for the righteous), and verily for the wicked ones there is an evil resort.”

56. “Hell, wherein they enter, an evil is the place,”

57. “This water is boiling and pus, so let them taste it.”

Piety is at the top of all virtues, while contumacy and despotism is at the top of all vices, and contumacy is the cause of an evil end. The verses which are under discussion, by using the style of opposition and comparison, which the Qur’an applies much, point to the evil end and various punishments of the wicked and disobedient ones against Allah. At first, it says:

The excellent resort of the pious was pointed out before (verse 49) and now the wicked ones have an evil resort. The next holy verse, by using the style of epitome and expansion, explains this ambiguous sentence by saying: this evil resort, into which they will enter and will be burnt in its Fire, is Hell:

It seems that the Qur’anic phrase: /yaslunaha/ (they will enter Hell and will be burnt) is for the statement of this that no one imagines that they only see Hell from a far distance, or they will be beside it, no, they will enter into its inside; and also that nobody imagines that they will be accustomed to the Fire of Hell and will be able to tolerate it; no, they will be constantly burning in it. The Qur’anic term /mihad/, as was mentioned before, means a bed which is stretched for sleep and rest. It is also used for the cradle of a child.

Bed is the place of resting and from any point of view it must be fitting and pleasant for a person. But how will be the situation of those whose bed is the Fire of Hell? The third verse refers to other kinds of their punishment. It says:

The Qur’anic word /hamim/ means: ‘Some hot and boiling water’. It is one of the drinks of the people in Hell, opposite to the ‘purified drink’ which was mentioned for the people of Paradise in former verses. The Qur’anic term /qassaq/ is derived from /qasaq/ in the sense of the intense dark of night. Ibn-Abbas has rendered it into a very cold drink which because of intense of coldness burns the man’s inside and hurts it. But there is not anything in the meaning of the root of this word which denotes to this meaning except its opposition with the word /hamim/ which means ‘hot blazing water’ and this may have been the origin of such understanding.

Raqib in Mufradat has rendered it into the drops that come out from the skin of the body of the people of Hell (the pusses of their body). The dark colour of it necessarily has caused this word to be used, because the products of that blazing Fire are not anything but some burnt bodies with some black exudations in the Hell. However, it is understood from some of the words that /qassaq/ (pus) has a very bad sharp smell which hurts everybody.

Some others have rendered it into a kind of penalty that none knows it save Allah, because they have committed some great sins and grievous tyrannies that none has been aware of them except Allah and their retribution must be such, too. It is in the same manner that the pious people of Paradise used to do some righteous deeds which knew none except Allah, and, therefore, they have been promised some rewards which knows none save Allah; the Holy Qur’an says:

Footnotes

1. 12. Surah As-Sajdah, No. 32, verse 17