Tafsir of Maryam 19:71

"And there is none of you..." [The phrase contains] a shift to addressing mankind—whether intended in a general sense or specifically referring to the disbelievers—to demonstrate greater concern for the content of the speech. It is said: It is an address to mankind, and a new discourse from Him, the Almighty, begins after completing the purpose of the first, so there is no shift at all, and that is what first comes to mind. However, it is said that the first [view] is supported by the reading of Ibn Abbas, Ikrimah, and a group: "And there is not one of them..."

"...except he will come to it." That is, enter it, as many of the early exegetes and the people of the Sunnah have held. They adduce as evidence the words of the Almighty: "Indeed, you and what you worship instead of Allah are the firewood of Hell; you will enter it," and His words concerning Pharaoh: "He will precede his people on the Day of Resurrection and lead them into the Fire; and wretched is the place to which they are led." Ibn Abbas argued with what was mentioned against Ibn al-Azraq when the latter denied his interpretation of "coming to it" as "entering it." This holds true even on the assumption of the generality of the address, meaning that the believer enters it, but it does not harm him, according to what has been said.

Ahmad, al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Hakim—who authenticated it—and others have narrated from Abu Sumayya, who said: "We differed regarding the 'coming.' Some of us said: 'A believer will not enter it,' and others said: 'They will all enter it, then Allah Almighty will save those who feared Him.' So I met Jabir ibn Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) and mentioned this to him. He gestured with his two fingers to his ears—may they be deaf if I did not hear the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying: 'There is no righteous person or wicked person but he will enter it; then it will be cool and peaceful for the believer, just as it was for Abraham (peace be upon him), until the Fire has a roaring sound from their coldness. Then Allah Almighty will save those who feared Him.'" Imam al-Razi mentioned several benefits of this entry in his interpretation, so refer to it.

Abd ibn Humayd, Ibn al-Anbari, and al-Bayhaqi narrated from al-Hasan that the "coming" is passing over it without entering. This is also narrated from Qatadah, and it is by passing over the Bridge (al-Sirat) placed upon its back, as a group has narrated from Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him). The believer passes without feeling it, based on what Ibn Abi Shaybah, Abd ibn Humayd, al-Hakim, and others narrated from Khalid ibn Ma’dan, who said: "When the people of Paradise enter Paradise, they will say: 'Our Lord, did You not promise us that we would come to the Fire?' He will say: 'Yes, but you passed over it while it was dormant.'" This does not contradict what al-Tirmidhi, al-Tabarani, and others narrated from Ya’la ibn Umayyah from the Prophet (ﷺ) that he said: "The Fire will say to the believer on the Day of Resurrection: 'Pass, O believer, for your light has extinguished my flame,'" because it is possible he did not remember this statement during the questioning, or he did not hear it due to being preoccupied.

Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Ibn Zayd that he said regarding the verse: "The coming of the Muslims is their passing over the bridge between its sides, and the coming of the polytheists is that they will enter it." According to this, one must commit a general metaphor (majaz) for those who do not see the possibility of using a word for two meanings. From Mujahid: the believer's coming to the Fire is the touch of fever on his body in the world, because of what is authentically narrated from his saying (ﷺ): "Fever is from the heat of Hell." It is not hidden that using this as evidence for the desired meaning is weak.

Some argued for this [the fever interpretation] based on what Ibn Jarir narrated from Abu Hurayrah, who said: "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) went out to visit a man from his companions who was suffering from a fever, and I was with him. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: 'Indeed, Allah Almighty says: It is My fire, which I impose upon My believing servant to be his portion of the Fire in the Hereafter.'" This also has a weakness. The truth is that there is no evidence in it that the feverish believer in the world will not come to the Fire in the Hereafter. The furthest it indicates is that he is protected from the pain of the Fire on the Day of Resurrection.

Abd ibn Humayd narrated from Ubayd ibn Umayr that the "coming" is presence and closeness, as in the words of the Almighty: "And when he came to the water of Midian." Some chose that the meaning is their presence, kneeling around it, and they adduced as evidence for that what you will learn, if Allah wills. There is no contradiction between this verse and the words of the Almighty: "Those will be kept far from it," because what is meant is far from its punishment. It is said: The meaning is their distancing from it after they have been near it.

"...upon your Lord, an inevitability" (hatman)—meaning, an obligation, as narrated from Ibn Abbas. The meaning is equivalent to a duty in its certainty of occurrence, for nothing is incumbent upon Allah Almighty according to the people of the Sunnah.

"...decreed" (maqdiyyan)—it has been decreed that it will definitely occur. Al-Khatib narrated from Ikrimah that the meaning of "an inevitability decreed" is a binding oath. This is also narrated from Ibn Mas’ud, al-Hasan, and Qatadah. It is said: The intention of it is the initiation of an oath. It is also said that "upon your Lord" is intended as an oath, as you say: "Allah has upon me such-and-such," as it has no meaning other than emphasizing the obligation; and an oath is only mentioned for the sake of such emphasis. The preposition "’ala" (upon) appears in their speech frequently for oaths, as in his saying: "By the one whom, when I come to Layla, I visit the sanctuary of the House of Allah, barefoot." The formulation of a vow is sometimes intended as an oath, as they have stated. It is permissible that what is meant by this sentence is an oath, as they say: "I urge you to do such-and-such," finished. From what has been mentioned, one knows the meaning of the "oath" in what al-Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah, and others narrated from Abu Hurayrah: "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'No Muslim loses three children and enters the Fire, except for the fulfillment of the oath.'"

Abu Ubaidah and Ibn Atiyyah—and many others followed them—said: The oath in the Hadith refers to the oath in the initial verse, meaning "And there is none of you but will come to it." Some stated clearly that the "wa" (in 'wa-an') is for the oath. Abu Hayyan countered this by saying that no grammarian holds that such a "wa" is the oath-wa, because it would necessitate the deletion of the governed noun (majrur) while keeping the governing preposition (jar), which is not permissible unless it occurs in poetry or rare speech, on the condition that the attribute of the deleted noun takes its place, as in the saying: "By Allah, my Layla is not a companion..." He also said: Grammarians have established that one cannot dispense with the oath without a response, due to the indication of the meaning, unless the response is with "lam" or "inna." Where is that in the verse?

Ibn Hisham held that "fulfillment of the oath" is a metonymy for "a small amount." This has become widespread in that, and from it is the saying of Ka’b: "They tread on the ground, and it is a small amount of the earth that they touch, a fulfillment..." The meaning is that their touching the ground is little, just as a person swears on something he will do, so he does a little of it to fulfill his oath. Then he said: What a group of exegetes said, that the oath is original and is a reference to the words of the Almighty "And there is none of you but will come to it," etc., is because the sentence contains no oath unless it is conjoined to the sentences that served as the response to the oath from His words: "So by your Lord, We will surely gather them..." to the end. This is far-fetched, finished. Al-Khafaji permitted it to be a circumstantial clause or a conjunction, and said: "The claim of it being far-fetched is not heard because there is no intervening separator," and it is as you see.

Perhaps the safest path from the debate is to make it a metaphor for a "small amount," and this is a well-known metaphor in what was mentioned. This is not contradicted by what Ahmad, al-Bukhari in his history, al-Tabarani, and others narrated from Mu’adh ibn Anas from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) that he said: "Whoever guards behind the Muslims in the way of Allah voluntarily, with no ruler forcing him, will not see the Fire with his eyes, except for the fulfillment of the oath, for Allah Almighty says: 'And there is none of you but will come to it.'" The reasoning is correct while also intending the "small amount" from that as well. It is as if it were said: "He will not see the Fire except for a little, because Allah Almighty informed that everyone will come to it, and what He informed must happen. Were it not for that, it would have been possible that he would not see it at all."