Tafsir of Al-Hijr 15:44

(It has seven gates): That is, seven layers which they descend into according to their ranks in misguidance and following [Iblis]. This has been narrated from ‘Ikrimah and Qatadah. Ahmad, in al-Zuhd, and al-Bayhaqi, in al-Ba‘th, among others, recorded through various chains from ‘Ali (may Allah ennoble his countenance) that he said: "The gates of Hell are seven, one above the other. The first is filled, then the second, then the third, until they are all filled."

Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that they are: Jahannam, al-Sa‘ir, Laza, al-Hutamah, Saqar, al-Jahim, and al-Hawiyah, which is the lowest of them. Other arrangements have been narrated from al-A‘mash, Ibn Jurayj, and others. Al-Suhayli mentioned in the book al-A‘lam that the names of these gates appear in books of Raqai’iq (books regarding heart-softening traditions), but they have not been established in any authentic narration. The apparent meaning of the Qur’an and the Hadith indicates that some of these are descriptions of the Fire, such as al-Sa‘ir, al-Jahim, al-Hutamah, and al-Hawiyah, while others are proper names for the Fire as a whole, such as Jahannam, Saqar, and Laza; therefore, we have refrained from mentioning them [in a definitive manner].

The narration closest to authenticity, in my opinion, among those we have encountered, is the one narrated from ‘Ali (may Allah ennoble his countenance) due to the multitude of its chains. All the narrations require the commitment to saying that "Jahannam" is applied to a specific layer just as it is applied to the Fire in its entirety. It has been said: The gates are literal, and the intent is that it has seven gates through which they enter due to their great number and the haste in their punishment.

The sentence, as Abu al-Baqa’ stated, may be a second predicate, or it may be a new commencement (musta’nafah). It cannot be a state (hal) of Jahannam because Inna does not operate on a state.

(For each gate, among them [the followers and the misguided] is a portion apportioned): A specific group, separated from the others according to what its predisposition necessitates. Thus, there is a gate for the monotheist sinners, a gate for the Jews, a gate for the Christians, a gate for the Sabeans, a gate for the Magians, a gate for the polytheists, and a gate for the hypocrites. You see this arrangement in some narrations. From Ibn ‘Abbas: Jahannam is for those who claimed divinity, Laza for fire-worshippers, al-Hutamah for idol-worshippers, Saqar for Jews, al-Sa‘ir for Christians, al-Jahim for Sabeans, and al-Hawiyah for monotheist sinners. Other accounts have been narrated; in sum, there is disagreement in the narrations regarding the designation of those who enter them, just as there is in their arrangement.

Perhaps the wisdom behind specifying this number is that the totality of destructive things is confined to those sensed by the five senses and the requirements of the animalistic-desirous and irascible powers, or that the origins of the sects entering it are seven. Ibn al-Qa‘qa‘ read juz’ with a tashdid (doubling) on the zay without a hamzah; the explanation is that he elided the hamzah, placed its vowel on the zay, then paused with tashdid, then treated the connection as a pause. Ibn Wathab read juz’un with a dammah on the zay and the hamzah.

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From the way of allusion (Isharah): (Leave them to eat and enjoy, and let [false] hope divert them; for they are going to know.) Therein is an allusion to the condemnation of those whose concern is their belly and the fulfillment of their desires. Abu ‘Uthman said: The worst of people in condition is he whose concern is such, for he is deprived of reaching the sanctuary of proximity.

(And they said, "O you upon whom the Reminder has been sent down, indeed you are mad.") They accused him—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—of madness, pointing to the fact that the cause was his claim of the descent of the Dhikr (Reminder), which their intellects could not encompass. The allusion in this is that it does not befit one whose intellect has not expanded to receive the secrets that Allah has bestowed upon His chosen ones, that he should rush to deny them and accuse them of what is improper, as is the habit of many deniers today regarding the perfect saints (awliya). They have attributed the divine secrets and lordly knowledge that those saints speak of to madness, claiming that what they speak of is nonsense and falsehoods imagined due to spiritual exercises. I do not mean by "perfect saints" anyone other than those whose conformity to the Sharia is verified by the fair-minded in all they do and abandon, not those who falsely claim to be in their ranks while they are the allies of Satan and his party, like some mystics of this era. Indeed, the heretics are pious monotheists in comparison to them, as is not hidden to anyone who investigates their conditions.

(Indeed, it is We who sent down the Reminder and indeed, We will be its guardian.) Ibn ‘Ata’ said: Meaning, We have sent down this Dhikr as a healing, mercy, and a clarification for guidance, so he who is marked by felicity—enlightened by the sanctification of the soul from the filth of opposition—benefits from it. (And indeed, We will be its guardian) in the hearts of our saints; they are the treasuries of our secrets.

(And We have placed in the sky great stars and have beautified it for the observers.) Allah, Glory be to Him, pointed to the sky of the Essence and the stars of the Attributes and Majesty. The heart, the secret, the intellect, and the spirit travel therein, and thus for the spirit, there is Tawhid (monotheism), Tajrid (stripping away), and Tafrid (singleness). For the intellect, there is knowledge and unveiling. For the heart, there is passion, love, fear, hope, constriction, expansion, knowledge, awe, intimacy, and cheer. For the secret, there is extinction and subsistence, intoxication and sobriety.

(And We have protected it from every devil, expelled [from the mercy of Allah].) An allusion to the prohibition of unveiling the beauty of His attributes—Glory be to Him—and the Majesty of His Essence—the Almighty, the Majestic—from the vision of the idle, the claimants, and the falsifiers who turn away from the Truth, (except one who steals a hearing)—one who snatches something [of these truths] from the inhabitants of those holy presences among the perfect ones—(so there follows him a burning flame, clear): the fire of bewilderment; he perishes in the deserts of confusion or becomes a ghoul that leads astray those traveling to attain what benefits them.

It is said: The allusion in this is: We have placed in the sky of the intellect the stars of stations and the levels of intellects—from the Hylian intellect, the intellect by disposition, the intellect in action, to the acquired intellect—and we have beautified it with sciences and knowledge for the observers who contemplate. We have guarded it from the devils of false illusions, except for one who snatches the intellectual ruling by stealing a hearing due to his proximity to the horizon of the intellect, so a flame of clear evidence follows him, driving him away and invalidating his ruling. It is not hidden that the decoration of every level of the aforementioned intellects with sciences and knowledge for those who contemplate contains a critique of those who contemplate.

It is said: The allusion is that Allah, the Exalted, placed in the sky of hearts the stars of knowledge, in which the planets of aspirations travel, and He made them an ornament for those who observe them—the angels and the spiritual beings—and protected them from devils. If Iblis or his soldiers were to draw near to the heart of a Gnostic (‘arif), he would be burned by the light of his knowledge and turn back, humiliated.

(And the earth We have spread out and cast therein firmly set mountains and caused to grow therein [something] of every well-balanced thing.) An allusion to the fact that Allah, Glory be to Him, spread out by the lights of the manifestation of His Beauty and Majesty the earth of the hearts of His saints, such that the Throne and all it contains is like a ring in a vast desert in comparison to it—nay, even less than that. In the report: "Neither My earth nor My heaven contains Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me." Furthermore, when He manifests upon it, it trembles from His awe, so He casts upon it the firm mountains of tranquility, and it stabilizes. He causes to grow therein, by the waters of the clear seas of His unseen light, all the plants of knowledge, unveilings, experiences, states, stations, and etiquettes; and each of these is balanced by the scale of His knowledge and wisdom.

Some said: The souls of worshippers are the earth of worship, the hearts of the Gnostics are the earth of knowledge, and the spirits of the longing ones are the earth of love. The mountains are hope, fear, desire, and awe. The flowers and lights that shine therein are from the light of certainty, the light of gnosis, the light of presence, the light of witnessing, and the light of Tawhid, and so on.

It is said: The "earth" alludes to the earth of the nafs (self/ego), meaning: We spread out the earth of the nafs with the light of the heart, cast therein the mountains of virtues, and caused to grow therein every thing from the moral perfections, volitional actions, virtuous traits, and sensory perceptions, apportioned and measured by the scale of wisdom and justice. (And We have made for you therein means of living) by way of particular arrangements.

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(And there is no thing but that with Us are its treasuries)—meaning there is no thing but that it has its treasuries with Us in the world of Decree—(and We do not send it down) into the world of manifestation (except according to a known measure) of form, magnitude, placement, time, and location, according to what its predisposition necessitates. It is said: The allusion in this is the invitation of the servants to the realities of Tawakkul (trust in Allah), the severance of [reliance on] secondary causes, and the turning away from all "others." From here, Hamdun said: He, the Almighty, the Majestic, cut off the desires of His servants with this verse; so whoever lifts a need to other than Him—Exalted is His Majesty—after this, he is ignorant and blameworthy. When al-Junayd (may his secret be sanctified) would read this verse, he would say: "Then where are you going?" It is said: His treasuries—the Exalted—on earth are the hearts of the Gnostics, and within them are the jewels of secrets. Some say: The souls are the treasuries of divine help (tawfiq), the hearts are the treasuries of verification (tahqiq), and the tongues are the treasuries of Dhikr (remembrance).

(And We have sent) upon the hearts (the winds)—the divine inspirations—(as fertilizing agents) with wisdom and knowledge. Ibn ‘Ata’ said: The winds of divine care fertilize steadfastness in acts of obedience; the winds of generosity fertilize in the hearts the knowledge of the Bestower; the winds of trust fertilize in the souls the confidence in Allah and reliance upon Him. Each of these winds manifests in the bodies an increase and in the hearts an increase, and wretched is he who is deprived of them.

(And We sent down from the sky)—meaning the sky of the spirit—(water)—from the essential sciences—(so We gave it to you to drink)—and we revived you through it—(and you are not its guardians)—due to your being void of these sciences before We taught you. (And indeed, it is We who give life) to the hearts with the water of knowledge and witnessing, (and [We] cause death) to the souls through strenuous effort and struggle.

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(And indeed, We have known the precedent among you)—they are the longing ones, seeking to advance—(and indeed, We have known the laggards)—those who are attracted to the world of the senses by the domination of the attributes of the nafs, seeking to lag behind the world of the Holy and the gardens of intimacy. From here, Ibn ‘Ata’ said: Among hearts are those whose aspiration is elevated above filth and looking at created things, and among them are those tied to it, joined to its impurity, not parting from it for the blink of an eye.

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(And [mention] when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I am going to create a human being from an altered black mud.") Therein is an allusion to the greatness of the status of Adam (peace be upon him), as He, the Exalted, announced his creation before He created him. He named him "human" (bashar) because He engaged in his creation with His own hands, and He did not dualize the hand for anyone but him. He is the divine copy gathering the attributes of Beauty and Majesty. (So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My soul, then fall down to him in prostration.) He attributed the soul to Himself as an honor for it and an exaltation of its worth, because it is a hidden secret from His secrets—the Almighty, the Majestic. Thus, it was said: "He who knows his own self knows his Lord." The Almighty, the Majestic, suspended the command of prostration upon the fashioning and the breathing, because the lights of the Names and the Attributes and the radiance of the splendors of the Essence only appear at that point. Thus, when the matter was completed and the copy was polished, the lights of Truth appeared, and the lines of secrets were read, they considered themselves small.

(So the angels prostrated—all of them entirely. Except Iblis)—when Allah, the Exalted, blinded his eye from witnessing what they witnessed—(he refused to be with the prostrators.) Had he witnessed that, he would have prostrated just as they prostrated. (He said, "I am not one to prostrate to a human whom You created out of altered black mud.") The cursed one erred in his claim that he was better than Adam (peace be upon him), and it did not cross his mind that the true lover complies with the command of his beloved regardless of what it is. Hence, it was said: "If He said in pride, 'Stand on the coals of the burning fire,' I would stand, complying, and would not hesitate."

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( [Allah] said, "Then get out of it, for indeed, you are expelled.") Driven away from the sanctuary of proximity, for proximity necessitates compliance, and the more a servant increases in proximity to his Lord, the more he increases in humility and submissiveness. (And indeed, upon you is the curse until the Day of Recompense.) He, the Exalted, did not mean that after that he would obtain proximity—contrary to some of the people of Unity—but He, the Almighty, the Majestic, meant some of what We have mentioned previously.

( [Iblis] said, "My Lord, because You have put me in error, I will surely make [disobedience] attractive to them on earth...") Meaning, I will make the desires attractive to them in the lower realm. ("...and I will mislead them all, except, among them, Your chosen servants")—those whom You have purified for Yourself and selected for Your love, or those who are sincere (mukhlisun) in their obedience to You and do not look to anyone besides You. Therein is the praise of sincerity, as it is. In the report: "The world is destroyed, except the scholars; the scholars are destroyed, except the workers; the workers are destroyed, except the sincere ones; and the sincere ones are in a great danger"—meaning, a great honor, as mentioned by the Master, the Support, in some of his annotations.

(Indeed, My servants—no authority will you have over them, except those who follow you of the deviators)—that is, those who resemble you in misguidance and remoteness. (And indeed, Hell is the promised place for them all. It has seven gates...)—the number of the five senses and the two powers: the appetitive and the irascible. These two powers are two great gates for the deviation that leads to the Fire.

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(For each gate is a portion apportioned)—so for each gate, there is a group dominated by the power of that gate. We ask Allah, the Exalted, to protect us from it by the sanctity of the Master of the discerning, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.