Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AL MA'ARIJ [8]

8. The Day that the sky will be like the Al-Muhl. 9. And the mountains will be like `Ihn. 10. And no friend will ask a friend, 11. Though they shall be made to see one another, the criminal would desire to ransom himself from the punishment of that Day by his children. 12. And his wife and his brother, 13. And his Fasilah who sheltered him, 14. And all that are in the earth, so that it might save him. 15. By no means! Verily, it will be the fire of Hell, 16. Nazza`ah the Shawa! 17. Calling (all) such as turn their backs and turn away their faces. 18. And collect (wealth) and hide it (from spending it in the cause of Allah). Allah says that the torment will befall the disbelievers.

(The Day that the sky will be like the Al-Muhl.) Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, `Ata, Sa`id bin Jubayr, `Ikrimah, As-Suddi and others have all said, ”Like the residue of oil.''

(And the mountains will be like `Ihn.) meaning, like fluffed wool. This was said by Mujahid, Qatadah and As-Suddi. This Ayah is similar to Allah's statement,

(And the mountains will be like carded wool.) (101:5) Concerning Allah's statement,

(And no friend will ask a friend, though they shall be made to see one another.) Meaning, no close friend will ask his close friend about his condition while he sees him in the worst of conditions. He will be worried about himself and will not be able to think of others. Al-`Awfi reported from Ibn `Abbas, ”Some of them will know others and they will be acquainted with each other. Then, they will flee from each other after that, as Allah says,

(Every man that Day will have enough to make him careless of others.)'' (80:37) This honorable Ayah is similar to Allah's statement,

(O mankind! Have Taqwa of your Lord, and fear a Day when no father can avail aught for his son, and nor a son avail aught for his father. Verily the promise of Allah is true.) (31:33) and He also says,

(And if one heavily laden calls another to (bear) his load, nothing of it will be lifted even though he be near of kin.) (35:18) and He says,

(Then, when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no kinship among them that Day, nor will they ask of one another.) (23:101) and similarly He says,

(That day shall a man flee fom his brother, and from his mother and his father, and from his wife and his children. Every man that Day will have enough to make him careless of others.) (80:34-37) Then Allah's saying here

(the criminal would desire to ransom himself from the punishment of the Day by his children, and his wife and his brother, and his Fasilah (kindred) who sheltered him, and all that are in the earth, so that it might save him. By no means!) means, no ransom will be accepted from him even if he brought all of the people of the earth (as ransom), and the greatest wealth that he could find, even if it was enough gold to fill the entire earth. Even the child that he had who was dearer to him than the last beat of his heart in the life of this world, he would wish to use the child as a ransom for himself against the torment of Allah on the Day of Judgement when he sees the horrors. However, even this child would not be accepted from him (as a ransom). Mujahid and As-Suddi both said,

(and his Fasilah) ”This means his tribe and his kin.'' `Ikrimah said, ”This means the subdivision of his tribe that he is from.'' Ashhab reported from Malik that he said, ”His Fasilah is his mother.'' Allah said,

(Verily, it will be the fire of Hell,) Here He is describing the Hell- fire and the severity of its heat.

(Nazza`ah the Shawa!) Ibn `Abbas and Mujahid both said, ”It is the skin of the head.'' Al-Hasan Al-Basri and Thabit Al-Bunani both said,

(Nazza`ah the Shawa!) ”This means respectable parts of the face.'' Qatadah said,

(Nazza`ah the Shawa!) ”This means removing his important organs, and the respectable parts of his face, his creation and his limbs.'' Ad-Dahhak said, ”This means it will scrape the flesh and the skin off of the bone until it leaves nothing of it remaining.'' Ibn Zayd said, ”The Shawa is the marrow of the bones.'' As for,

(Nazza`ah) Ibn Zayd said, ”It is cutting their bones and transformation of their skins and their form.'' Concerning Allah's statement,

(Calling (all) such as turn their backs and turn away their faces. And collect and hide it.) meaning, the Fire will call out to its children whom Allah created for it, determining that they will perform the deeds deserving of it in the worldly life. So it will call them on the Day of Judgement with an eloquent and articulate tongue. Then it will pick them out from the people of the gathering just as birds pick seeds. This is because they were, as Allah said, of those who turned their backs and turned away. This means they denied with their hearts and abandoned the performance of deeds with their limbs.

(And collect and hide it.) meaning, he gathered wealth piling it up, and he concealed it, meaning he hid it and refused to give the obligatory right of Allah that was due on it of spending and paying the Zakah. It has been recorded in a Hadith that the Prophet said,

(Do not hold back (your wealth) or else Allah will hold back from you.)