Al-Muddaththir: (42) "What has caused you to enter Saqar?"

"What has caused you to enter Saqar?" is an explanation for the inquiry, without the need to imply the verb "saying," or it is implicitly understood by a word that occurs as a circumstantial qualifier (hal) for the subject of "they inquire" (yatasa'alun). That is, they inquire of them, saying, "What thing caused you to enter Saqar?"

It is said that the ones being asked are not the criminals, but rather a group of the angels (peace be upon them), and "What has caused you to enter..." is a narration of what the ones being asked said about them. That is, the Companions of the Right asked the angels about the condition of the criminals; [the angels] said: "We asked the criminals about that and said to them: 'What has caused you to enter Saqar?' until the end." It would have sufficed for them to say, "Their condition is such and such," but the answer was provided in detail, according to what they were asked, so that it might be more confirmatory of the truth and more indicative of the reality of the matter. Thus, there is ellipsis and brevity in the speech.

It is also permitted that the reciprocal form (tafa'ul) is taken in its literal sense—meaning they ask one another about the criminals—and "What has caused you to enter..." is a narration of the speech of the ones being asked about them. However, it is not hidden that considering it a narration involves affectation; thus, that is not the preferred interpretation, even if conciseness is the method of the Revelation and ellipsis is frequent in the speech of the Exalted Almighty.

The apparent meaning is that the question is one of rebuke and regret, for otherwise, they know what it is that caused them to enter the Fire—even if they were children, according to what I believe—due to the unveiling of matters on that Day.

It was narrated by Abdullah ibn Ahmad and a group from Ibn al-Zubayr that he recited: "They ask about the criminals: 'O so-and-so, what has caused you to enter [Saqar]?'" It was also narrated from Umar. Abu Ubayd and Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Ibn Mas'ud that he read: "O you disbelievers, what has caused you to enter Saqar?"