Al-Haaqqa (The Reality)

30. [It shall be said:] “Seize him and fetter him;

31. Then, throw him into Hell.

32. “Then, fasten him with a chain whereof the length is seventy cubits!”

33. He used not to believe in Allah, the Most Great,

34. And urged not people to feed the poor.

35. So no intimate friend has he here on this Day to protect him,

36. Nor any food except pus and blood.

37. None shall eat the food except the sinners.

Resuming the treatment of the state of the people of left hand who receive their record of deeds in their left hand and moan and wish they had been dead, the blessed Verses in question make a reference to some of their torments on the Day of Resurrection. According to the blessed Verse 30, the angels of torment are commanded to seize and fetter him.

The Arabic verbal form

ghuluhu (“fetter him”) derives from gh-l-l (“fetter, shackle”). The angels are ordered in the following blessed Verse to throw him into hellfire.

The blessed Verse 32 says:

“Then, fasten him with a chain whereof the length is seventy cubits!”

The Arabic nominal for silsila denoting chain is cognate with tasalsul denotes trembling and shivering, since chains tremble and move.

The expression

“seventy cubits”

may connote multiplicity and multitude, since the number seventy oftentimes implies large quantity and massive amount. It may have been used in its literal sense. At any rate, on that Day, sinners shall be shackled by such long chains thereby enwrapping them.

Some Qur’an exegetes maintain that such long chains are not for individual sinners but each group will be fettered by one chain. Such chastisement following a reference to shackles and fetters stands in further conformity with the preceding blessed Verses.

The Arabic word dhira‘ denotes the length of finger tips to the elbow which equals approximately half a meter. Such natural unite of measurement was used by Arabs.

Nonetheless, some exegetes hold that such dhira‘ is different from commonly used units, such that the former is applied to far lengthier units and all the people of the Hell shall be fettered by the same. It is worthy of note, once again, that the affairs of the Day of Resurrection may not be fully depicted by us, the inhabitants of this world, though they are dimly depicted by Qur’anic Verses and traditions.

The Arabic adverbial form thumma herein reflects that following being thrown into Hell, the sinners shall be entangled with a chain measuring seventy cubits as another chastisement for them whose causes are enumerated in the following two blessed Verses, namely 33 and 34, saying:

“He used not to believe in Allah, the Most Great, and urged not people to feed the poor.”

Despite being called by Messengers to believe in Allah, they belied them and thereby had severed their ties with their Maker.

The blessed Verse 34 is saying that they did not urge people to feed the needy and thus they had severed their ties with creatures. Thus, the main cause of their misery lies in the severance of ties with the Creator and the Creation.

The expression explicitly reflects that the majority of religious obligations, devotions, and injunctions may be summarized in the twain, thereby indicating the extraordinary significance of feeding the poor and the dependence of such great and humane act upon faith. In this vein, it is said that disbelief in the worst of beliefs and miserliness is the worst of vices.

It is worthy of note that it is said:

“he did not urge others to feed”

rather than he did not feed, reflecting that firstly, feeding one in need may never solve the problems of the needy, but others are supposed to be urged to act likewise such that it turns into a customary practice to feed the poor and those in need; secondly, one may not afford to feed the needy but he may be capable of urging others to act accordingly; thirdly, the niggardly are not only unwilling to offer others some of their possessions, but they are uninterested in other people’s liberality and generosity.

The blessed Verses 35 and 36 say:

“So no intimate friend has he here on this Day to protect him, nor any food except pus and blood.”

It is noteworthy that their deeds and chastisements stand in total conformity. It is owing to severing their ties with their Maker that they may not find any intimate friends there. Likewise, they are fed but pus and blood, since they refrained from feeding the needy in this world but they ate the most delicious food themselves.

In his Mufradat, Raghib says that the Arabic word ghislin denotes the water by which the disbelievers wash their bodies in Hell, but it is commonly accepted that the word is applied to the pus and blood oozing from the bodies of the people of Hell and Raghib might have intended the same.

The word

ta‘am (“food”)

stands in conformity with the same sense.

The blessed Verse 37 says:

“None shall eat the food except the sinners.”

Some exegetes maintain that the Arabic word khati’ is applied to one who intentionally commits vices, but mukhatti’ is one who intentionally or inadvertently commits evil deeds. Thus, such food served in Hell is for those who intentionally disobey God Almighty and tread the path of polytheism, disbelief and miserliness.

In this vein, Sa‘sa‘a ibn Suhan, a companion of Imam ‘Ali (as), is reported as saying:

“An Arab came unto ‘Ali (as) inquiring about the meaning of the blessed Verse “None shall eat the food except the sinners,”

though instead of

khati’un (“sinners”), he said khatun (“walker, wayfarer”).

Thus, he inquired:

“All people walk, but shall they be served the same food by Allah?”

The Noble Imam (as) replied smilingly:

“O Arab! The accurate form is khati’un (“sinners”).

The Arab asked:

“You are true. O Commander of the Faithful! Allah never chastises those who have not sinned.”

The Noble Imam turned toward Abu al-Aswad who was a man of letters and said:

“Non-Arabs have converted to the Islamic faith. Take measures so that they may improve their knowledge of Arabic. Thus, Abu al-Aswad introduced nominative, accusative, and genitive markers (raf‘, nasb, jarr).1