Al-Anbiyaa (The Prophets)

98. “Verily you and what you worship besides Allah shall be the fuel of Hell; you shall go down to it.”

99. “If these had been (real) gods, they would not have gone down thither, but all will abide therein.”

100. “There shall be sighing for them therein, and they therein shall not hear (any answer).”

Following the discussions of the former verses which were about the fate of the oppressive disbelievers, here the Qur’an, addressing them, illustrates their future destiny and their gods as follows:

“Verily you and what you worship besides Allah shall be the fuel of Hell;…”

You yourselves and your artificial gods are the fuel of Hell and the material that forms its flames, and you will be thrown into Hell like some worthless pieces of wood.

Then, the verse adds:

“…you shall go down to it.”

At first, the false gods will be thrown into the Fire, and then the polytheists, who used to worship them, will enter to them. It seems that their false gods entertain them by the fire which raises from their entity.

If this question arises inquiring what is the philosophy of throwing the idols into the Hell Fire, the answer of it can be this that when the idol-worshippers see that they are burning in the fire that comes from their idols, this circumstance is a kind of punishment for them. Besides, it can be also a humiliation for their thoughts that they used to refuge to such worthless beings.

In other words, the advantage of the fact that Allah has put the idol worshippers with their idols and has mentioned them with together is that the opposite case of their expectation has occurred here, because they had imagined that their false gods might intercede for them before the Lord but now, with the chastisement that Allah has assigned for them, the conditions are contrary to it.

Therefore, there will be nothing worse than these false gods for the idol worshippers then.

Question: This verse indicates both the idol worshippers and their idols shall be the fuel of Hell. Are some persons, such as Hadrat Messiah (as), who have been objects of worship, also counted in this formula, or are they exceptions?

Answer: These objects of worship have been counted as exceptions, for: firstly, the Qur’an has referred to the deities as some irrational beings where it uses ‘what’ in the phrase which says: ‘what you worship’. Hence, the holy Messenger of Allah (S) in answer to the abovementioned question said:

“The Arab’s custom is that they use the word ‘what’ for irrational beings and (the phrase) ‘what you worship’ means the idols made of stone and wood.”1

Secondly: The addressees of this holy verse were the idol worshippers of Mecca who used to worship idols made of stone, wood, and so on. Thirdly: in some verses of this very holy Surah, which will orderly be commented later, this fact has been stipulated that those ones whom have been promised good by Allah (such as Hadrat Messiah (as)) are aloof from Hell.

Then, in the next verses, as a general conclusion, the Holy Qur’an concerning the idols announces as follows:

“If these had been (real) gods, they would not have gone down thither…”

But beware that the idol worshippers not only will enter the Hell but also will remain in it forever. The holy verse continues saying:

“…but all will abide therein.”

For further explanation about the painful situation of these ‘misguided worshippers’ who used to serve those worthless objects of worship, the Qur’an says:

“There shall be sighing for them therein…”

These sighs and sad moans may not be only related to those worshippers, but the Satans, whom were their objects of worship, also accompany them in this deed.

The next sentence refers to one of other painful punishments, they will have in Hell, where it says:

“…and they therein shall not hear (any answer).”

This sentence may point to this matter that they will not absolutely hear anything which causes them to become happy. They will be only the hearer of the wearing moans and the call of the angels of chastisement.

Some commentators have said that the purpose of it is that they will hear no voice of anyone at all, as if they are alone in punishment, which itself is the source of further chastisement upon them.