Tafsir of Al-Muzzammil 73:12

Surah Al-Muzzammil (73): Verse 12

{إِنَّ لَدَيْنَا أَنكَالًا}

That is, We have in the Hereafter what opposes their enjoyment in this world. He mentioned four things:

1. {أَنكَالًا} (Fetters/Chains): The singular is nikl or nikal. Al-Wahidi said: Ankal means fetters. The author of Al-Kashshaf said: Ankal means heavy fetters.
2. {وَجَحِيمًا} (And a Blazing Fire): This requires no further explanation.
3. {وَطَعَامًا ذَا غُصَّةٍ} (And Food that Chokes): Ghusṣah is what causes a person to choke. This food is the Zaqqūm and ḍarīʿ, as Allah the Exalted said: {They will have no food except from the thorny plant} (Al-Ghashiyah: 6). They said it is a thorny plant like the ʿawsaj (a type of thorny bush) that catches in the throat, entering but not exiting.
4. {وَعَذَابًا أَلِيمًا} (And a Painful Punishment): This refers to all other types of torment.

Know that it is possible to interpret these four stages as referring to spiritual punishment:

• The Fetters (Ankāl): These refer to the soul remaining bound by its attachment to the physical body and bodily pleasures. Since the soul acquired the habit of this love and desire in the world, after the body perishes, the yearning intensifies. Yet, the means of acquisition have ceased, so these attachments become like fetters and chains preventing the soul from ascending to the realm of the spirit and purity.
• The Blazing Fire (Jaḥīm): Spiritual fires arise from these spiritual chains. The soul's intense inclination toward bodily states and its inability to attain them causes an intense spiritual burning, like one whose heart burns from intense desire for something he cannot find. This is the Jaḥīm.
• Choking Food (Ṭaʿāman dhā Ghuṣṣah): Then, the soul tastes the bitterness of deprivation and the pain of separation; this is what is meant by {And food that chokes}.
• Painful Punishment (ʿAdhāban Alīman): Due to these states, the soul remains deprived of the manifestation of Allah's Light and from joining the ranks of the sanctified ones. This is what is meant by {And a painful punishment}. The indefinite form in {And a punishment} indicates that this torment is more severe and complete than what preceded it.

Know that I do not claim that the meaning of these verses is only what I have mentioned. Rather, I assert that they imply the occurrence of the four physical stages and the occurrence of the four spiritual stages. It is not impossible for the terms to apply to both, even if the wording is literal concerning the physical stages and metaphorical (though commonly accepted metaphor) concerning the spiritual stages.

Then, after describing the punishment, the Almighty informed when this will occur, saying:

{يَوْمَ تَرْجُفُ الْأَرْضُ وَالْجِبَالُ وَكَانَتِ الْجِبَالُ كَثِيبًا مَهِيلًا}

(The Day the earth and the mountains will shake, and the mountains will become like heaps of fine sand poured out.)