Tafsir of Ad-Dukhan 44:56

[56] "They will not taste therein death, except the first death"

This is an initiating sentence or a circumstantial one. It is as if the intent were to say: "They will not taste death therein at all." The "first death" was placed in that position because it is impossible to taste the past death in the future. It is thus a case of suspension by a condition, as if it were said: "If the first death could be tasted in the future, then they would taste it." This is analogous to one who, when asked for water, says: "I will not give you to drink except embers," knowing full well that embers cannot be drunk. Similar to this is His saying, the Almighty: "And do not marry those whom your fathers married of women, except what has already passed." Thus, the exception is conjunctive, and the inclusion is hypothetical for the sake of hyperbole.

The pronoun in "therein" refers to the Gardens. It is also said: It is conjunctive, and the believer, at the moment of his death, upon witnessing what he is given in Paradise, is as if he were already there; thus, he is as if he tasted the first death within Paradise. It is also said: It is conjunctive, and the pronoun in "therein" refers to the Hereafter, and death is the first of its states; the disjointedness and the resort to metaphorical interpretation in this view are not hidden.

It is also said: The exception is disjunctive, and the pronoun refers to the Gardens, meaning: "But the first death, they have already tasted in the world," and the original [rule] is the conjunction of the exception. Al-Tabari said: "Except" (illa) carries the meaning of "after" (ba'da), though the majority have not established this meaning for it. Ibn Atiyyah said: A group went to the view that "except" carries the meaning of "other than" (siwa), but Al-Tabari weakened this. Abu Hayyan said: Its weakening is not correct; rather, the meaning holds true with "other than," and it is consistent. The benefit of the description [i.e., "the first"] is to remind [one] of the state of the world.

The motive for what you have heard regarding these views is to repel a question raised here: that the first death is something that passed for them in the world, and what is as such cannot be tasted in Paradise, so how was it excepted? It is said: The question is based on the [principle that] an exception from a negation is an affirmation; thus, the judgment negated from the totality is affirmed for the excepted part, and it is impossible for the past first death to be affirmed for them in Paradise. However, according to those who regard it as referring to the remainder after the exception, the meaning is: "They shall not taste any death other than the first death," and thus there is no difficulty; so reflect upon this.

Ubayd ibn Umayr read la yudhaqun (they shall not be made to taste) in the passive voice. Abdullah [ibn Mas'ud] read la yadhūqūna fīhā ṭa'ma al-mawt (they shall not taste therein the flavor of death). It is mentioned in the Hadith [regarding] sleep, for it is the brother of death. Al-Bazzar, Al-Tabarani in Al-Awsat, Ibn Marduyah, and Al-Bayhaqi in Al-Ba'th recorded with a sound chain from Jabir ibn Abdullah, who said: It was said, "O Messenger of Allah, will the people of Paradise sleep?" He said, "No, sleep is the brother of death, and the people of Paradise do not die, nor do they sleep."

"And He protected them from the punishment of the Hellfire."

Abu Haywah read wa waqqa-hum with a shaddah on the qaf to signify intensity in the preservation of protection, because the taf'il form here is for increasing the meaning, not for transitivity, since the verb is already transitive before it.