Fuṣṣilat

وَيَوْمَ يُحْشَرُ أَعْدَاءُ اللَّهِ إِلَی النَّارِ فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ

حَتَّی إِذَا مَا جَاءُوهَا شَهِدَ عَلَيْهِمْ سَمْعُهُمْ وَأَبْصَارُهُمْ وَجُلُودُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

19. And [remember] the Day that the enemies of Allah will be gathered to the Fire, then they will be restrained.
20. Till when they reach it, their hearing and their eyes and their skins will bear witness against them as to what they used to do.

The Arabic verbal form yuza’un is used in the sense of “they are restrained,” connoting that the first one is restrained to the coming of the last one following which they shall be driven to Hell. Representation of Resurrection leads to warning and guidance. The Holy Qur’an asks the Noble Prophet (S) to remind people of such Day. The blessed Verse 19 is saying that God Almighty makes mention of disbelievers and the manner of their advent of the Day of Resurrection reminding His Messenger (S) that upon their arrival, God’s enemies will be gathered such that those occupying the front row shall be restrained so that others may arrive and they all enter Hell.

Upon their assembly, their bodily organs, through Divine Command, bear witness against them: their ears bear testimony that they disregarded both the Signs of existence which were recurrently heard by them and the Qur’anic Verses heard by them. They did not take any lessons but neglected them. Their skins bear witness that they touched unlawful objects. It is worthy of note that there is a vital force within bodily organs and everything shall attain to perfection on the Day of Resurrection.

Upon the arrival of human body from the mundane world to the Hereafter, all inward deeds and conducts shall be manifest through Divine Command and it may justify the secret of the manner of bearing testimony by bodily organs against man. Verse 20 is saying that their ears bear witness to hearing the Call to proceed toward Truth but they turned away from it. Their eyes bear witness that they saw many a Signs indicating Divine Unity, but they failed to believe. Other bodily organs bear witness against their deeds and sins.

It is mentioned in ‘Ali ibn Ibrahim Qumi’s Tafsir¹⁷ that the Verse is concerned with those whose deeds become manifest to them, but they deny them, saying:

“We are not aware of such deeds in the least.”

Then, the angels in charge of recording their deeds bear witness that they have committed such acts. Imam Sadiq (as) said:

“They say unto God Almighty

‘O Lord! They are your angels and bear witness to your benefit.’

They take an oath that they have not committed any of such deeds.”

Thus, God Almighty places the seal of silence on their tongues and makes their bodily organs speak- any ear, eye, hand, and foot, having heard, seen, touched, and proceeded toward unlawful words, sights, objects, directions bear testimony before God Almighty.

Footnotes

1. 17. vol. 2, p.264