Al-A'raf: (38-39) He said, "Enter among..."

This verse is part of the explanation of the state of the disbelievers, namely that the Exalted God will admit them to the Fire.

Regarding His saying, Exalted is He: {He said, "Enter"}, there are two opinions:

1. The first: That God Almighty says this.
2. The second: Al-Muqatil said it is the speech of the keeper of the Fire. This difference depends on whether the Exalted God speaks to the disbelievers or not, a matter we have discussed exhaustively.

Regarding His saying, Exalted is He: {Enter among communities}, there are two interpretations:

The First Interpretation: The implied meaning is: "Enter the Fire along with communities." Under this view, the verse contains both an omission (ellipsis) and a metaphor.

• Omission: Because we have omitted the phrase "in the Fire."
• Metaphor: Because we have interpreted the word (فِي - fi, meaning 'in') as (مَعَ - ma'a, meaning 'with'), as we said the meaning of {among communities} is "with communities."

The Second Interpretation: Neither omission nor metaphor is required. The implied meaning is: "Enter among communities in the Fire." The meaning of entering among the communities is entering amongst them.

His saying: {that have passed away before you of jinn and mankind} means their time preceded your time. This suggests that God does not admit all disbelievers into the Fire at once, but rather group after group. Thus, there will be those who entered first and those who entered later, which validates this interpretation. The one entering the Fire will see those from his community who preceded him.

His saying: {Every time a community enters, it curses its sister}. The intent is that the inhabitants of the Fire curse one another, disowning one another, just as He, Exalted is He, said: {Close friends, that Day, will be enemies to one another, except for the pious} (Az-Zukhruf: 67). The meaning of {its sister} is in religion. Meaning: the polytheists curse the polytheists, the Jews curse the Jews, the Christians curse the Christians, and similarly for the Magians, the Sabians, and all other misguided sects.

His saying: {until, when they have all followed each other therein} means they followed one another, meaning they caught up with each other and gathered in the Fire, and some overtook others and settled with them. {The first of them will say concerning the last of them}.

There are two opinions:

1. Al-Muqatil said: "The last of them" refers to those who entered the Fire last, concerning "the first of them" who entered first.
2. The second opinion: "The last of them" refers to those of lower status—the followers and the lowly—concerning "the first of them" who were of high status—the leaders and the chiefs.

The lām (ل) in {for their last} is the lām of causation (lām al-illa). The meaning is: "because of them and for misleading them." {They will say, "Our Lord, these misled us"} (Al-A'raf: 38). It is not intended that they mentioned this statement to their predecessors, because they were not addressing their predecessors; rather, they addressed God with this speech.

Regarding His saying, Exalted is He: {Our Lord, these misled us}, the meaning is that the followers say that the predecessors misled them. Know that this misguidance occurs from the predecessors to the successors in two ways:

1. By inviting to falsehood, adorning it in their eyes, and striving to conceal the proofs that invalidate those falsehoods.
2. By the successors holding those predecessors in high esteem, thus imitating them in those fabricated falsehoods and errors, becoming similar to the actions of those predecessors in misguiding.

Then God, Exalted is He, recounts that these successors call for increased torment upon those predecessors, which is His saying: {He said, "For each one [of you] is double [the punishment], but you do not know"}.

There are two opinions regarding {double} (al-dhi'f):

The First Opinion: Abu Ubaidah said: Al-Dhi'f is like the thing once. Al-Shafi'i, may God have mercy on him, said something similar. He said regarding a man who made a will: "Give so-and-so double the share of my son." He said: He is given its like twice.

The Second Opinion: Al-Azhari said: Al-Dhi'f in the speech of the Arabs means the like and what exceeds it, and it is not restricted to just two times. It is permissible in Arabic speech to say: "This is its dhi'f," meaning its like and three times its like, because al-dhi'f fundamentally means an unrestricted increase. The proof for this is His saying, Exalted is He: {For them is a recompense of double for what they did} (Saba: 37). He did not intend by this one like or two likes, but rather the most appropriate interpretation is ten times their like, based on His saying, Exalted is He: {Whoever brings a good deed, he will have ten times the like of it} (Al-An'am: 160). Thus, it is established that the minimum of dhi'f is restricted to the like, and its maximum is unrestricted, extending infinitely.

As for the issue of Al-Shafi'i, may God have mercy on him: Know that the estate is related to the rights of the heirs. However, because of the bequest, we diverted a portion of it to the legatee. The certain amount in a bequest is the like, and the remainder is doubtful. Therefore, we took what was certain and discarded what was doubtful, which is why we interpreted al-dhi'f in that case as double.

Regarding His saying, Exalted is He: {For each is double, but you do not know}, there are two issues:

Abu Bakr read concerning 'Asim: {ya'lamūn} (they know) with a yā' (ي), referring to the absent ones. The meaning is: But each group does not know the measure of the torment of the other group, so the speech refers to everyone, because even though it is addressed to the listeners, it is an explicit noun used for the third person. Thus, it is interpreted based on the form rather than the meaning. The rest read with a tā' (ت) as direct address: {but you do not know}, meaning, O addressees, what measure of torment each party has. It is also possible: but you, O people of the world, do not know the measure of that.

One might ask: If the meaning of {For each is double} is that every person receives double the torment they deserve, that is unjust and impermissible. If that is not the meaning, then what is the meaning of it being "double"?

The answer is: The torment of the disbelievers increases. Every pain that occurs is followed by the occurrence of another pain without end. Thus, those pains are compounded and increasing without limit.

Then the Exalted One clarifies that just as their last ones addressed their first ones, their first ones also answer their last ones, saying: {And the first of them will say to the last of them, "Then you had no advantage over us"}, meaning in abandoning disbelief and error; rather, we are partners in deserving the punishment.

One might object: This is a lie on their part, because as leaders, masters, and chiefs, they invited others to disbelief and exaggerated in encouraging it, so they were both misguided and misguiding. As for the followers and the lowly, although they were misguided, they were not misguiding. Thus, their statement that the followers have no advantage over the leaders in abandoning error and disbelief is invalidated.

The response is: The most that can be said is that the disbelievers lied in this statement on the Day of Resurrection, and we hold that this is permissible, as we established in Surah Al-An'am regarding His saying: {Then their trial was not but that they said, "By God, our Lord, we were not polytheists"} (Al-An'am: 23).

Regarding His saying: {So taste the punishment for what you used to earn}, this could be the speech of the leaders, or it could be the saying of God Almighty to them all.

Know that the purpose of this speech is to instill fear and deter, because when the Exalted informed that the leaders and followers disown one another and curse one another, this was a cause for intense fear to enter the heart.

7 < {Indeed, those who denied Our verses and were arrogant toward them—the gates of heaven will not be opened for them, nor will they enter Paradise until a camel enters through the eye of a needle. And thus do We recompense the criminals.}

{For them is a bed of Hellfire, and above them coverings [of Hellfire]. And thus do We recompense the wrongdoers.} > 7

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