(12-13) And what will make you know what the 'Aqabah (the Steep Pass) is?

His saying—the Exalted—"And what will make you know what the 'Aqabah (Steep Pass) is?" means: what thing has informed you of what it is? This serves to magnify the status of the 'Aqabah, which is explained by His—the Glorified—saying, "the freeing of a neck [slave], etc." Interpreting it in this manner is based upon figurative assertion (iddi'a) and metaphor (majaz), and it is something whose correctness is beyond doubt. Even if the 'Aqabah and the fakk (freeing) are not identical in reality, there is no need to estimate an omitted noun (mudaf), as the Imam claimed, in order for the interpretation to be valid—that is, "And what will make you know what the traversing of the 'Aqabah is? [It is] the freeing, etc."

Some have said it is possible that by 'Aqabah it is meant the act of gratitude itself, expressed as such due to its difficulty. This is not contradicted by "And what will make you know..." because it is in the position of saying, "And what will make you know what gratitude is? [It is] freeing a neck." This is as you see.

Ibn Abi Hatim, Ibn Jarir, and Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated from Ibn Umar that the 'Aqabah is a slippery mountain in Hell. Ibn Jarir narrated something similar from al-Hasan. Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Ibn Abbas that it is the Fire, and in a narration by 'Abd ibn Humayd from him, it is a pass between Paradise and Hell. From Mujahid, al-Dahhak, and al-Kalbi, it is the Sirat (the Bridge). Descriptions of it have come down as they have, and perhaps what is intended by the pass between Paradise and Hell is this. Ibn Jarir and Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Abu Raja that he said, "It has reached me that the 'Aqabah which Allah the Exalted mentioned in the Quran takes seven thousand years to ascend and seven thousand years to descend."

If these narrations are authentic, it becomes necessary that the "traversing" (iqtiham) signifies passing and crossing quickly, and that one must estimate an omitted noun, meaning: "And what will make you know what the traversing of the 'Aqabah is? [It is] the freeing, etc." The freeing and what follows it are then made to be the traversing itself by way of hyperbole regarding its causality, as if it were the thing itself. The ultimate meaning is: He did not perform that by which he might be saved and through which he might cross the difficult 'Aqabah on the Day of Resurrection.

By this, the objection raised by the Imam—which he quoted from al-Wahidi after having cited its interpretation as a slippery mountain in Hell, the Sirat, and so on—is refuted. The objection was: "There is reflection (nazar) in the interpretation, because it is known that this human and others have not traversed the 'Aqabah of Hell, nor have they crossed it; thus, applying the verse to that would be an explanation of what is already obvious. Then he said: 'That which points to this is that when He—the Exalted—said, "And what will make you know what the 'Aqabah is?" He—the Glorified—explained it as [the freeing of] a neck and [the feeding of] the hungry.'"

Indeed, I do not affirm any of those [narrations] until a marfu' (elevated) report authenticates them as an interpretation of the verse.

Al-Fakk (freeing) is the extraction of one thing from another. A poet said: "O Lord of the distressed, behind whom I have returned, And the captive whose shackles I unfastened (fakkakta), so he ransomed me." It is the verbal noun of fakka, as is al-fakkak with a fatha on the fa, as stated by al-Farra. The common view is that the intent here is the releasing of the neck of a slave from the description of slavery by way of manumission (i'taq).

Ahmad, Ibn Hibban, Ibn Marduyah, and al-Bayhaqi narrated from al-Bara’—may Allah be pleased with him—that a Bedouin said: "O Messenger of Allah, teach me a deed that will enter me into Paradise." He replied: "Free the soul (nasamah) and release the neck (raqabah)." He asked: "Are they not one and the same?" He said: "No. Freeing the soul is to act alone in its emancipation, while releasing the neck is to assist in its emancipation." Upon this, the negation of i'taq regarding the one who is spoken of is true, a fortiori. Included in fakk in this sense is giving the mukattab (slave under a contract of emancipation) what he spends in the path of freeing himself.

Many reports have come regarding the virtue of manumission, among them what Ahmad, the two Shaykhs, al-Tirmidhi, and others narrated from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: "Whoever frees a believing neck, Allah will free for every organ of it an organ of his from the Fire, even the private part for the private part." It is superior to charity according to Abu Hanifah—may Allah be pleased with him—while according to his two companions, charity is superior. The verse, as some have said, is more indicative of the Imam's view because of the placing of the fakk before the feeding. From al-Sha'bi, there is also the preference for manumission over charity to a relative, let alone others.

The Imam stated another excellent aspect regarding the verse: that it may mean one should release his own neck by the worship he performs, by which he attains Paradise; for it is the greatest freedom. According to this, it is said that what follows is of the type of specifying after generalizing, though there is remoteness in this, as is not hidden.