Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AL AN'AAM [128]

128. And on the Day when He will gather them together (and say): ”O you assembly of Jinn! Many did you mislead of men,” and their friends among the people will say: ”Our Lord! We benefited one from the other, but now we have reached our appointed term which You did appoint for us. ” He will say: ”The Fire be your dwelling place, you will dwell therein forever, except as Allah may will. Certainly your Lord is All-Wise, All-Knowing.”) Allah says, `Mention, O Muhammad, in what you convey and warn,' that,

(on the Day when He will gather them (all) together.) gather the Jinns and their loyal supporters from mankind who used to worship them in this life, seek refuge with them, obey them and inspire each other with adorned, deceitful speech. Allah will proclaim then,

(O you assembly of Jinn! Many did you mislead of men,) So the Ayah;

(Many did you mislead of men) refers to their misguiding and leading them astray. Allah also said;

(Did I not command you, O Children of Adam, that you should not worship Shaytan. Verily, he is a plain enemy to you. And that you should worship Me. That is the straight path. And indeed he (Shaytan) did lead astray a great multitude of you. Did you not, then, understand) ï´¿36:60-62ï´¾, and

(and their friends among the people will say: ”Our Lord! We benefited one from the other...'') The friends of the Jinns among humanity will give this answer to Allah, after Allah chastises them for being misguided by the Jinns. Al-Hasan commented, ”They benefited from each other when the Jinns merely commanded and mankind obeyed.'' Ibn Jurayj said, ”During the time of Jahiliyyah, a man would reach a land and proclaim, `I seek refuge with the master (Jinn) of this valley,' and this is how they benefited from each other. They used this as an excuse for them on the Day of Resurrection.'' Therefore, the Jinns benefit from humans since humans revere the Jinns by invoking them for help. The Jinns would then proclaim, ”We became the masters of both mankind and the Jinns.''

(but now we have reached our appointed term which You did appoint for us.) meaning, death, according to As-Suddi.

(He (Allah) will say: ”The Fire be your dwelling place...'') where you will reside and live, you and your friends,

(you will dwell therein forever. ) and will never depart except what Allah may will.