Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Indeed, Hell was a place of observation] to His saying: [They will not taste therein any coolness or any drink]
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The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
We begin this weekly session, which is the first session of the month of Jumada al-Ula, on the first Thursday of the month, the fourteenth of the month, in the year 1413. We were discussing the exegesis of Surat al-Naba.
Until we reached the saying of Allah the Exalted:[An-Naba 78:20] Then Allah Mighty and Majestic said: [An-Naba 78:21] meaning: a place of observation and preparation for the transgressors. And Jahannam is one of the names of the Fire, which has many names. It was given this name because it has darkness and gloom due to its blackness and depth. May Allah protect us and you from it. It is a place of observation for the transgressors, which Allah Mighty and Majestic has prepared for them from now, so it exists, as He said: [Al-Baqarah 2:24] and meaning his intestines, because he was the first to introduce shirk (associating partners with Allah) to the Arabs; this is the Fire.
Allah Mighty and Majestic says that it is: and "al-taghin" is the plural of "taghi," which is one who exceeds the limit, because transgression is exceeding the limit, as Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Haqqah 69:11] meaning: he increased and exceeded his limit.
Exceeding the limit occurs in the rights of Allah and in the rights of people. As for the rights of Allah Mighty and Majestic, it is negligence in the obligatory or transgression in the forbidden. As for transgression in the rights of human beings, it is aggression against them in their wealth, their blood, and their honor. These are the three things that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited and declared forbidden in several places during the Farewell Pilgrimage, saying:Sahih al-Bukhari 1739
So the transgressors in the rights of Allah and in the rights of the servant are the people of the Fire, may Allah protect us. For this reason, He said: meaning: a place of return, and "al-awb" originally means return, as He said: [Sad 38:30] meaning: returning to Allah Mighty and Majestic. He said: [An-Naba 78:23] meaning: remaining in it for long periods. The Noble Qur'an indicates that these periods have no end and are eternal, as is explicitly stated in three verses of the Book of Allah:
In Surat al-Nisa, in His saying:[An-Nisa 4:168-169] and in Surat al-Ahzab: [Al-Ahzab 33:64-65] and in Surat al-Jinn, in His saying: [Al-Jinn 72:23]
If Allah has explicitly stated in three verses of His Book that the people of the Fire are eternal in it, then it is necessary that the Fire remains forever.
This is the position of the people of the Sunnah and the community: that the Fire and Paradise are created and will never cease to exist.
There is a slight disagreement among some of the people of the Sunnah regarding the eternity of the Fire, and they claimed that it is not eternal. They cited arguments that are actually doubts with no proof for their position when compared to other evidence. Therefore, this is a disagreement where the dissenting view and its statement are not to be relied upon. It is obligatory for the believer to believe in what the Book of Allah indicates with clear evidence that does not admit of figurative interpretation. The verses, as you have heard, are all clear and decisive verses; abrogation does not apply to them, and ambiguity does not apply to them.
As for the fact that abrogation does not apply to them, it is because they are news, and the news of Allah Mighty and Majestic is not abrogated, nor is the news of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), because the abrogation of one news by the other necessitates the falsehood of one of them, either intentionally by the reporter or out of ignorance of the situation. All of this is impossible in the news of Allah and the news of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), which is based on revelation.
The important point, my brothers, is that we must believe in two things: The first thing is the existence of Paradise and the Fire now. The evidence for this from the Qur'an and the Sunnah is abundant, including His saying:[Ali 'Imran 3:133] and "al-i'dad" is preparation. This verb is in the past tense, indicating that the preparation has taken place.
Similarly, Allah the Exalted said regarding the Fire:[Ali 'Imran 3:131] and "al-i'dad" is preparing a thing, and the verb here is in the past tense, indicating that it has taken place.
The Sunnah has explicitly stated this, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw Paradise and saw the Fire. The second thing is believing that they are two eternal abodes. Whoever enters them and is among their people will remain in them forever. As for Paradise, whoever enters it will not come out of it, as Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Hijr 15:48]
As for the Fire, the sinners among the believers will enter it for as long as Allah wills them to remain in it, and then their destination will be Paradise, as the authentic reports from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) testify to this. The important point is that it is necessary to believe in these two matters. The first one is the answer to your question.
The questioner : The statement of some ... that they are created now.
The Shaykh : That Paradise and the Fire are created now, and the second: that they are eternal and will not cease to exist.
So His saying:[An-Naba 78:23-24] does not indicate in any way that these periods are limited, meaning that they have a limit and then end. Rather, the meaning is many periods with no end.
[An-Naba 78:24] denies therein the coolness that provides coolness to the exterior of the body and the drink that provides coolness to the interior of the body.
And that is because they, may Allah protect us, as Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Kahf 18:29] And is the water that is like molten metal, when brought near the face, scorching the face, of any benefit to its owner? The answer is: No, on the contrary, [Muhammad 47:15] As for the exterior of the body, Allah the Exalted said: [Ad-Dukhan 44:47-48]
And Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Hajj 22:19-20] What is in their bellies of intestines and skins is the exterior of the body. So whoever is in that state, they will not taste therein any coolness or any drink that extinguishes the heat of their bellies.
And whoever reflects on the severe warnings in the Qur'an and the Sunnah for the people of the Fire, it is as some of the Salaf said: If someone were to say to us: "You have palaces, rivers, wives, and fruits at the farthest point of the world," we would walk on the edges of our eyelids, night and day, to reach this Paradise with this great blessing, whose blessing is constant and unceasing, and whose youth is constant and does not age, and whose health is constant with no illness. I believe that if we were promised that, we would walk on the edges of our eyelids until we reached this place.
Look at people today; they go to the east and west of the earth to obtain a dirham of this world or a dinar, which they may enjoy or may not enjoy. So what is the matter with us that we stand in this position regarding the seeking of Paradise and this position regarding fleeing from the Fire? We ask Allah to protect us and you from the Fire and to make us and you among the people of Paradise[An-Naba 78:23-25] and so on.
We will postpone the rest to the next lesson, if Allah wills, to devote ourselves to answering your questions. May Allah guide everyone to what He loves and is pleased with, and may Allah make us and you among those who benefit from His Book, reciting it with proper recitation. Indeed, He is Generous and Bountiful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
We begin this weekly session, which is the first session of the month of Jumada al-Ula, on the first Thursday of the month, the fourteenth of the month, in the year 1413. We were discussing the exegesis of Surat al-Naba.
Until we reached the saying of Allah the Exalted:
And the mountains are removed and will be [but] a mirage.
وَسُيِّرَتْ الْجِبَالُ فَكَانَتْ سَرَاباًIndeed, Hell has been lying in wait
إِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ كَانَتْ مِرْصَاداًthen fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.
فَاتَّقُوا النَّارَ الَّتِي وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْكَافِرِينَThe Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw it when it was shown to him while he was praying the eclipse prayer. He saw in it a woman being tormented for a cat she had confined; she had neither fed it nor released it to eat from the creatures of the earth. He also saw in it 'Amr ibn Luhayy al-Khuza'i dragging his intestines in the Fire.
رآها النبي صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم حين عرضت عليه وهو يصلي صلاة الكسوف ورأى فيها امرأة تعذب في هرة لها حبستها لا هي أطعمتها ولا هي أرسلتها تأكل من خشاش الأرض ورأى فيها عمرو بن لحي الخزاعي يجر قصبه في النارAllah Mighty and Majestic says that it is:
For the transgressors, a place of return.
لِلْطَّاغِينَ مَآباًIndeed, when the water overflowed, We carried your ancestors in the sailing ship
إِنَّا لَمَّا طَغَا الْمَاءُ حَمَلْنَاكُمْ فِي الْجَارِيَةِExceeding the limit occurs in the rights of Allah and in the rights of people. As for the rights of Allah Mighty and Majestic, it is negligence in the obligatory or transgression in the forbidden. As for transgression in the rights of human beings, it is aggression against them in their wealth, their blood, and their honor. These are the three things that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited and declared forbidden in several places during the Farewell Pilgrimage, saying:
Your blood, your properties, and your honor are sacred to one another
إن دماءكم وأموالكم وأعراضكم عليكم حرامSo the transgressors in the rights of Allah and in the rights of the servant are the people of the Fire, may Allah protect us. For this reason, He said:
For the transgressors, a place of return.
لِلْطَّاغِينَ مَآباًAn excellent servant, indeed he was one repeatedly turning back [to Allah].
نِعْمَ الْعَبْدُ إِنَّهُ أَوَّابٌIn which they will remain for ages [unending].
لابِثِينَ فِيهَا أَحْقَاباًIn Surat al-Nisa, in His saying:
(168) Indeed, those who disbelieve and commit wrong [or injustice] - never will Allah forgive them, nor will He guide them to a path. (169) Except the path of Hell; they will abide therein forever. And that, for Allah, is [always] easy.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَظَلَمُوا لَمْ يَكُنِ اللَّهُ لِيَغْفِرَ لَهُمْ وَلا لِيَهْدِيَهُمْ طَرِيقاً * إِلَّا طَرِيقَ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَداً وَكَانَ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيراً(64) Indeed, Allah has cursed the disbelievers and prepared for them a Blaze. (65) Abiding therein forever, they will not find a protector or a helper.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَعَنَ الْكَافِرِينَ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ سَعِيراً * خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَداً لا يَجِدُونَ وَلِيّاً وَلا نَصِيراًAnd whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger - then indeed, for him is the fire of Hell; they will abide therein forever.
وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَإِنَّ لَهُ نَارَ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَداًIf Allah has explicitly stated in three verses of His Book that the people of the Fire are eternal in it, then it is necessary that the Fire remains forever.
This is the position of the people of the Sunnah and the community: that the Fire and Paradise are created and will never cease to exist.
There is a slight disagreement among some of the people of the Sunnah regarding the eternity of the Fire, and they claimed that it is not eternal. They cited arguments that are actually doubts with no proof for their position when compared to other evidence. Therefore, this is a disagreement where the dissenting view and its statement are not to be relied upon. It is obligatory for the believer to believe in what the Book of Allah indicates with clear evidence that does not admit of figurative interpretation. The verses, as you have heard, are all clear and decisive verses; abrogation does not apply to them, and ambiguity does not apply to them.
As for the fact that abrogation does not apply to them, it is because they are news, and the news of Allah Mighty and Majestic is not abrogated, nor is the news of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), because the abrogation of one news by the other necessitates the falsehood of one of them, either intentionally by the reporter or out of ignorance of the situation. All of this is impossible in the news of Allah and the news of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), which is based on revelation.
The important point, my brothers, is that we must believe in two things: The first thing is the existence of Paradise and the Fire now. The evidence for this from the Qur'an and the Sunnah is abundant, including His saying:
And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous
وَسَارِعُوا إِلَى مَغْفِرَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا السَّمَاوَاتُ وَالْأَرْضُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَprepared
أُعِدَتSimilarly, Allah the Exalted said regarding the Fire:
And fear the Fire, which has been prepared for the disbelievers.
وَاتَّقُوا النَّارَ الَّتِي أُعِدَّتْ لِلْكَافِرِينَThe Sunnah has explicitly stated this, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw Paradise and saw the Fire. The second thing is believing that they are two eternal abodes. Whoever enters them and is among their people will remain in them forever. As for Paradise, whoever enters it will not come out of it, as Allah the Exalted said:
nor from it will they [ever] be removed.
وَمَا هُمْ مِنْهَا بِمُخْرَجِينَAs for the Fire, the sinners among the believers will enter it for as long as Allah wills them to remain in it, and then their destination will be Paradise, as the authentic reports from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) testify to this. The important point is that it is necessary to believe in these two matters. The first one is the answer to your question.
The questioner : The statement of some ... that they are created now.
The Shaykh : That Paradise and the Fire are created now, and the second: that they are eternal and will not cease to exist.
So His saying:
(23) In which they will remain for ages [unending]. (24) They will not taste therein [any] coolness or drink
لابِثِينَ فِيهَا أَحْقَاباً لا يَذُوقُونَ فِيهَا بَرْداً وَلا شَرَاباًThey will not taste therein [any] coolness or drink
لا يَذُوقُونَ فِيهَا بَرْداً وَلا شَرَاباًAnd that is because they, may Allah protect us, as Allah the Exalted said:
And if they call for relief, they will be relieved with water like murky oil, which scalds [their] faces. Wretched is the drink, and evil is the resting place.
وَإِنْ يَسْتَغِيثُوا يُغَاثُوا بِمَاءٍ كَالْمُهْلِ يَشْوِي الْوُجُوهَ بِئْسَ الشَّرَابُ وَسَاءَتْ مُرْتَفَقاًand are given to drink scalding water that will sever their intestines?
وَسُقُوا مَاءً حَمِيماً فَقَطَّعَ أَمْعَاءَهُمْ(47) [It will be commanded], "Seize him and drag him into the midst of the Hellfire, (48) Then pour over his head from the torment of scalding water."
خُذُوهُ فَاعْتِلُوهُ إِلَى سَوَاءِ الْجَحِيمِ * ثُمَّ صُبُّوا فَوْقَ رَأْسِهِ مِنْ عَذَابِ الْحَمِيمِAnd Allah the Exalted said:
Poured upon their heads will be scalding water (20) By which is melted that within their bellies and [their] skins.
يُصَبُّ مِنْ فَوْقِ رُءُوسِهِمْ الْحَمِيمُ * يُصْهَرُ بِهِ مَا فِي بُطُونِهِمْ وَالْجُلُودُAnd whoever reflects on the severe warnings in the Qur'an and the Sunnah for the people of the Fire, it is as some of the Salaf said:
I am amazed at the Fire: how does the one fleeing from it sleep? And I am amazed at Paradise: how does the one seeking it sleep?
عجبت للنار كيف ينام هاربها وعجبت للجنة كيف ينام طالبهاLook at people today; they go to the east and west of the earth to obtain a dirham of this world or a dinar, which they may enjoy or may not enjoy. So what is the matter with us that we stand in this position regarding the seeking of Paradise and this position regarding fleeing from the Fire? We ask Allah to protect us and you from the Fire and to make us and you among the people of Paradise
(23) In which they will remain for ages [unending]. (24) They will not taste therein [any] coolness or drink (25) Except scalding water and [foul] purulence -
لابِثِينَ فِيهَا أَحْقَاباً لا يَذُوقُونَ فِيهَا بَرْداً وَلا شَرَاباً إِلَّا حَمِيماً وغَسَّاقاًWe will postpone the rest to the next lesson, if Allah wills, to devote ourselves to answering your questions. May Allah guide everyone to what He loves and is pleased with, and may Allah make us and you among those who benefit from His Book, reciting it with proper recitation. Indeed, He is Generous and Bountiful.