104:4 - Nay, he shall surely be cast into...

(Nay) is a deterrence to him against that false assumption, or against it and the gathering of wealth and his excessive love for it, as has been said. It has been suggested that it is a deterrence against the backbiting and fault-finding, though this is contested as being far-fetched in both wording and meaning. In my view, there is no harm in it being a deterrence against all the ugly traits contained in the preceding sentences.

His saying, Exalted is He, (he shall surely be cast into) is the answer to an implied oath, and the sentence is an initiation explaining the reason for the deterrence; meaning: By Allah, he shall surely be cast, on account of his aforementioned actions, (into al-Hutamah), that is, into the Fire whose nature is to crush everyone cast into it. The construction of the form fuʿalah (al-Hutamah) is to place the act, as a natural occurrence, in the position of something habitual.

Al-hatm (crushing) is the breaking of a thing, similar to al-hashm (smashing), then it was used for every ultimate form of breaking. They cited as evidence:

"We crushed Mus'ab with the rod, The day we broke his nose to provoke him."

It is said of a man that he is a hutamah, meaning a glutton, comparing him to the Fire; hence it is said regarding a glutton:

"As if in his belly is an oven."

Al-Dahhak interpreted al-Hutamah here as the fourth level of the Fire, while al-Kalbi said it is the sixth layer of Hell. Al-Qushayri narrated from him that it is the second level. Al-Wahidi said it is one of the gates of Hell. Abu Salih claimed it is the fire that is in their graves, but this is baseless.

His saying, Exalted is He...