Tafsir of Hud 11:106

The general reading is with a fatha on the shin (shaqu). Al-Hasan read it with a damma (shuqu), just as it is read: "those who were blessed" (su'idu).

Zafir (groaning) is the exhaling of breath, while shahīq (sobbing) is the inhaling of it. Al-Shammakh said: At the end of the wailing, the beginning of his sound Is a groan, followed by a rattling sob.

"As long as the heavens and the earth endure" There are two interpretations:

1. The heavens and earth of the Hereafter: These are created to be eternal. The evidence that the Hereafter has heavens and an earth is His saying: "On the day the earth is replaced by another earth" (Ibrahim: 48), and His saying: "We shall inherit the earth; we may settle in Paradise wherever we will" (Az-Zumar: 74). Furthermore, the people of the Hereafter must have something to support and shade them—either a heaven created by God, or the Throne shading them; for everything that shades you is a "heaven."
2. An expression of perpetuity: It signifies the negation of cessation, like the Arabs saying: "As long as the ta'ar remains," "As long as Thabir stands," or "As long as a star shines"—all of which are expressions of eternity.

If you ask: What is the meaning of the exception in His saying: "Except as your Lord wills," when it is established that the people of Paradise and Hell remain eternally without exception?

I say: It is an exception from the exclusivity of the Fire's torment and the exclusivity of Paradise's bliss. The people of the Fire do not remain solely in the torment of the Fire; they are also tormented by the Zamharir (intense cold) and other types of torment, the most severe of which is God’s wrath, His disdain, and His humiliation of them. Likewise, the people of Paradise have something greater and more exalted than Paradise itself: the good pleasure (Ridwan) of God, as He said: "God has promised the believing men and women gardens... and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetual residence, and approval from God" (At-Tawbah: 72). They also receive favors from God beyond the reward of Paradise, the nature of which only He knows. This is what is intended by the exception. The evidence for this is His saying: "A gift without end" (Hud: 108).

The meaning of His saying in contrast, "Indeed, your Lord is a doer of what He wills," is that He does with the people of the Fire what He wills regarding their torment, just as He gives the people of Paradise His gift that has no end. Reflect on this, for the Quran interprets itself. Do not let the Mujbira (determinists) deceive you by claiming the exception refers to the exit of the major sinners from the Fire through intercession; the second exception [in the verse for the blessed] exposes their falsehood and records their fabrication.

What do you think of a people who cast aside the Book of God because of what some upstarts narrated from Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As: "A day will come upon Hell when its gates will slam, and there will be no one in it," after they have remained in it for ages? It has reached me that some of the misguided have been deceived by this hadith, believing that the disbelievers will not remain in the Fire forever. This, and the like, is—we seek refuge in God—a manifest abandonment. May God increase us in guidance to the truth, knowledge of His Book, and awareness so that we may understand it. Even if this were authentic from Ibn al-As, its meaning would be that they exit the heat of the Fire into the cold of the Zamharir, and that is the emptying of Hell and the slamming of its gates. I say: Ibn Amr had enough to occupy him with his two swords and his fighting against Ali ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him) to prevent him from circulating such a hadith.