ﱳ ﱴ ﱵ ﱶ ﱷ ﱸ ﱹ ﱺ ﱻ ﱼ ﱽ ﱾ ﱿ ﲀ ﲁ ﲂ ﲃ ﲄ ﲅ ﲆ ﲇ ﲈ ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ ﲑ ﲒ ﲓ ﲔ ﲕ ﲖ
And those who disbelieved will be driven to Hell in groups until, when they reach it, its gates are opened and its keepers will say, "Did there not come to you messengers from yourselves, reciting to you the verses of your Lord and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours?" They will say, "Yes, but the word of punishment has come into effect upon the disbelievers.
Tafsir
Verse range: 39:71
[71] And those who disbelieved will be driven to Hell in groups until, when they reach it, its gates will be opened.
It is known that after the Almighty explained the state of the people on the Day of Resurrection in a general manner, saying:
{And every soul will be fully compensated for what it did} (Az-Zumar: 70),
He then clarified the manner of the state of the people of punishment, followed by the manner of the state of the people of reward, concluding the Surah.
As for the explanation of the state of the people of punishment, it is mentioned in this verse: {And those who disbelieved will be driven to Hell in groups}.
Ibn Zaydān said that the driving of the disbelievers to Hell will be with force and pushing. The evidence for this is the Almighty’s saying:
{The Day they will be dragged toward the Fire of Hell with a violent dragging} (At-Tur: 13).
This means they will be pushed forcefully. Similar to this is the Almighty’s saying:
{So that is the one who drives away the orphan} (Al-Mā‘ūn: 2), meaning he pushes him away.
This is also supported by the Almighty’s saying:
{And We will drive the criminals to Hell, thirsty} (Maryam: 86).
As for {in groups} (zumaran), they are scattered throngs, one following another. Thus, Allah the Exalted clarified that they will be driven to Hell, and when they arrive there, its gates will be opened. This indicates that the gates of Hell are only opened upon the arrival of those people.
When they enter Hell, the keepers of Hell will say to them: {Did there not come to you Messengers from among yourselves}—meaning from your own kind—{reciting to you the verses of your Lord and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours}?
If it is asked: Why is the Day attributed to them? We reply: It means the meeting at this time of yours, which is the time of their entry into the Fire, not the Day of Resurrection. The use of the word yawm (day) and ayyām (days) for times of distress is common.
At this, the disbelievers will say: {Yes, they did come to us and recited to us}, but {the word of punishment has been justly decreed against the disbelievers}.
In this verse, there are two issues:
The implied meaning of the statement is: The word of punishment has been decreed against us. If the word of punishment has been decreed against someone, how can he escape punishment? This is explicit proof that the fortunate one will not turn into wretched, and the wretched one will not turn into fortunate. The arguments of the Mu‘tazilah to refute this point are known, and our responses to them are also known.
The verse indicates that there is no obligation (wujūb) before the coming of the divine law (Shari‘ah). This is because the angels clarify that they have no remaining excuse or justification after the coming of the Prophets, peace be upon them. If the coming of the Prophets were not a prerequisite for deserving punishment, then this statement by the angels would be meaningless.
Then, when the angels hear this statement from them, they will say: {Enter the gates of Hell, to abide therein forever. And wretched is the abode of the arrogant!}
The Mu‘tazilah argue: If their entry into the Fire was because the word of punishment was decreed against them, then the statement of the angels {And wretched is the abode of the arrogant!} would have no purpose. Rather, this statement remains meaningful only if we hold that they entered the Fire because they were arrogant toward the Prophets, did not accept their message, and paid no heed to their proofs. This indicates the correctness of our position. And Allah knows best what is correct.
[72] And those who feared their Lord will be driven to Paradise in groups until, when they reach it, and its gates will be opened, and its keepers will say to them, "Peace be upon you; you have been good, so enter it to abide therein forever."
[73] And they will say, "Praise be to Allah, who has fulfilled His promise to us and has made us heirs to the land. We may settle in Paradise wherever we will." So excellent is the reward of the workers!
[74] And you will see the angels surrounding the Throne, glorifying the praise of their Lord. And judgment will have been passed between them in truth, and it will be said, "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds!"
