Tafsir of Fussilat 41:19

Tafsir of Surah Fussilat (41:19-25)

Verse 19:

And the Day He will muster all those who were enemies of God...

• Context: After describing the punishment of the disbelievers in this world (verse 18), God follows up with the description of their punishment in the Hereafter to ensure complete admonition and warning.
• Qira'at (Recitations):
  • Nafi' reads with the first-person plural prefix (نحشر - nuḥsharu), making God the subject: "And the Day God will muster His enemies..." This reading is supported by the preceding verse (ونجينا - wa najjaynā) and verses like (ويوم نحشر المتقين - wa yawma naḥsharu l-muttaqīn).
  • The rest read with the passive voice (يُحشر - yuḥsharu), meaning "And the Day the enemies of God will be mustered." This is because the story of Thamud concluded, and this verse starts a new topic. Furthermore, the ones doing the mustering are the angels, commanded by God (e.g., احشروا - iḥsharū). This passive reading also aligns with the following phrase (فهم يوزعون). The first reading is slightly weakened because if God were the subject, the phrasing should ideally be "And the Day We will muster Our enemies to the Fire."

Verse 19 (Continued):

...so they will be arrayed in ranks.

• Meaning of يوزعون (yūzaʿūn): They will be held back, their first ones detained until the last ones join them. The purpose is to show that once they are all gathered, they will be questioned about their deeds.

Verse 20:

Until, when they reach it [the Fire], their hearing, their sight, and their skins will testify against them.

• Issue 1: Structure: The implied structure is: "Until, when they come to Us, their hearing, sight, and skins will testify against them." The word ما (mā) is an emphatic particle (a ṣilah), stressing that upon their arrival, this testimony must occur, similar to the verse about Pharaoh (أثم إذا ما وقع آمنتم به - A-thumma idhā mā waqaʿa āmantum bihi).
• Issue 2: The Testimony of the Limbs: It is narrated that the servant on the Day of Judgment will ask God, "Did You not promise me that You would not be unjust?" God will affirm this. The servant will then say, "I will not accept anyone as a witness against myself except myself." God will then seal his mouth, and his limbs will speak about the deeds he committed. This is the meaning of the testimony.
  • Difference of Opinion on How They Testify (Three Views):
    1. Creation of Understanding/Speech: God creates in these organs the faculty of understanding, power, and speech, allowing them to testify as a knowledgeable person testifies.
    2. Creation of Sounds/Letters: God creates the actual sounds and letters within these organs, indicating those meanings, similar to how He made the tree speak.
    3. Manifestation of Signs: These organs manifest specific signs or indications (amārāt) that prove those actions originated from that person. These signs are called "testimony," just as the changing states of the world testify to its createdness.

• Critique of Views (Especially for the Mu'tazila):
  • View 1 (Understanding/Speech): This is difficult for the Mu'tazila because they hold that physical structure (binyah) is a prerequisite for intellect and power. If God alters the structure of the tongue or skin to make it speak, it ceases to be a tongue or skin.
  • View 2 (Creation of Sounds): This is also problematic for the Mu'tazila. Their principle is that the doer of the speech is the speaker. If God creates the sounds in the limbs, then God is the speaker, not the limbs. The Quran implies the limbs themselves are the speakers (شهد عليهم سمعهم - shahida ʿalayhim samʿuhum), and they are later questioned (لم شهدتم علينا - lima shahidtum ʿalaynā), responding, "God made us speak, the One who made everything speak."
  • View 3 (Manifestation of Signs): This is seen as resorting to metaphor (majāz) rather than the literal meaning (ḥaqīqah).

• Ahl al-Sunnah Position: This difficulty does not arise for the Ash'arites because they do not require physical structure (binyah) to be a prerequisite for life, knowledge, or power. God can create intellect, power, and speech in any part of these organs. This verse is strong evidence that structure is not a prerequisite for life or life-related attributes.

• Issue 3: Why Only Hearing, Sight, and Skin? The five senses are hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch (the skin being the organ of touch).
  • Taste is arguably included within touch, as tasting requires the skin of the tongue and palate to touch the food substance.
  • Smell is a weak sense in humans, and God has no specific legal commands (taklīf) related to it.
  • Alternative Interpretation (Ibn Abbas): It is narrated that Ibn Abbas interpreted "skins" (جلودهم) as referring to the private parts (الفروج), using kināyah (euphemism), similar to how ولا تواعدوهن سرا (do not promise them secretly) refers to marriage, or أو جاء منكم من الغائط (or come from the privy) refers to relieving oneself. The Prophet (PBUH) also said: "The first parts of a human to speak will be his thigh and his palm." If this is the case, the verse is a severe warning against fornication, as the prelude involves the palm (touching) and the culmination involves the thigh (private parts).

Verse 21:

They will say to their skins, "Why have you testified against us?" They will reply, "God, Who gave speech to everything, has made us speak; and He created you the first time, and to Him you will return."

• Meaning: The One capable of creating you and making you speak in the first instance (in the world), and then creating and making you speak again in the second instance (Resurrection), is certainly capable of making your limbs speak.

Verse 22:

And you did not conceal yourselves lest your hearing, your sight, and your skins should testify against you, but you assumed that God did not know much of what you were doing.

• Meaning: They used to hide when committing evil deeds, but they did not hide out of fear that their own senses would testify against them (since they denied the Resurrection). Rather, they hid because they assumed God did not know the hidden actions they performed.
• Narration (Ibn Mas'ud): While hiding behind the Ka'bah, three men discussed whether God hears their secret talk. One said, "If He hears our voices, He hears; otherwise, He does not." When this was reported to the Prophet (PBUH), this verse was revealed.

Verse 23:

And that was your assumption which you assumed about your Lord; it destroyed you, and you became among the losers.

• Meaning: This is explicit proof that whoever assumes that any piece of information can escape God's knowledge is among the doomed losers.
• Types of Assumption (الظن - Ẓann):
  • Good Assumption: Assuming God's Mercy and Grace (e.g., "I thought I would meet my reckoning").
  • Corrupt Assumption: Assuming that some matters escape God's knowledge. This is the assumption mentioned here, which leads to ruin.

Verse 24:

So if they are patient, the Fire will be their dwelling; and if they seek favor [to be pleased], they will not be granted favor.

• Patience (فإن يصبروا): If they remain steadfast in their plea for relief, they will find nothing but the Fire as their permanent abode (مثوى).
• Seeking Favor (وإن يستعتبوا): If they ask to be allowed to appease God (to be granted ʿitbā), they will not be granted it. This is like their plea in another verse: "Whether we are impatient or patient, there is no escape for us."

Verse 25:

And We appointed for them companions who made fair-seeming to them what was before them and what was behind them, and the Word [of punishment] was due against them among the nations which had passed on before them of jinn and mankind; indeed, they were losers.

• Companions (قرناء): These are the devils who beautified their evil deeds, making the past (previous sins) and the future (consequences) seem acceptable or insignificant.
• The Word Due: The decree of punishment was already established against them, just as it was against previous nations of jinn and mankind who were losers.

Verse 26:

And those who disbelieve say, "Do not listen to this Qur'an and talk nonsense about it so that you may overcome."

• Meaning: The disbelievers instructed each other to disrupt the recitation of the Quran through noise and distraction, hoping to gain victory over the message.

Verse 27:

So We will surely make those who disbelieve taste a severe punishment, and We will recompense them for the worst of what they used to do.

Verse 28:

That is the recompense of the enemies of God: the Fire. In it is their eternal dwelling, as recompense because they used to reject Our signs.

Verse 29:

And those who disbelieve will say, "Our Lord, show us those who misguided us from the jinn and mankind, [so] we may place them under our feet that they may be among the lowest."

• Meaning: The disbelievers, in their torment, will ask God to show them the leaders (devils and misleading humans) who caused their misguidance, so they can place them beneath their feet, making them the lowest of the low.