Al-Muzzammil (The Enshrouded One)

11. And leave Me Alone to deal with the beliers, those who are in possession of good things of life. And grant them respite for a little while.

12. With Us are fetters and the [Hell] Fire.

13. And a food that chokes and an excruciating torment.

14. On the Day when the earth and the mountains will be in violent shake and the mountains will be a heap of sand.

The blessed Verse 11 is addressed to the Noble Prophet (S) urging him to leave the records of the deeds of such arrogant sinners with Him. The preceding blessed Verse made a brief reference to the harassments of the enemies of the Islamic faith.

The blessed Verses in question harshly attacks them by severe warnings against the torments awaiting them in this world and the Hereafter. Thus, they are urged to revise their evil deeds.

The early Muslims contemporaneous with the Noble Prophet (S) are also consoled against the harsh attacks by the enemies urging them to persevere and remain steadfast by saying:

“Leave the affluent beliers unto Me and grant them respite for a short while.”

In other words, God Almighty is saying that the Noble Prophet is not supposed to confront them, but to leave them to Him, such that they avail themselves of a brief respite so that they may heed the ultimatum and reveal their nature and carry the burdens of further sins. Divine excruciating torments await them.

It is recorded in the history of Islam that the Muslims gained power before long and inflicted severe blows upon their enemies at the battles of Badr, Hunayn, and Ahzab. The arrogant enemies died before long and met their dire fate of Divine torments in the purgatory and those of the Hereafter are not too remote from them.

The Arabic phrase

ul-i ’l-ni‘ma (“possessors of bounties”)

herein implies the arrogance and neglect stemming from affluence leading the affluent oftentimes to entanglements. The history of the Prophets (as) and the Qur’anic Verses reflect that the affluent are the foremost enemies of the faith, though they are supposed to precede others in welcoming the call of the Truth as a token of their gratitude for the Divine Bounties granted them.

The blessed Verse 12 proceeds with further explicit warnings saying:

“With Us are fetters and the [Hell] Fire.”

The Arabic plural nominal form ankal denotes heavy chains. The word lexically denotes feebleness and weakness, since the shackles and fetters binding the feet, the hands, and the neck impede movement and entail weakness, the word is employed in the sense of chains, fetters, and shackles. The point is that such affluent but disobedient people availed themselves of unrestrained indulgence in worldly pleasures, but bondage and Hellfire awaits them in the Hereafter.

The blessed Verse 13 adds that such disobedient people shall be given

“a food that chokes and an excruciating torment.”

They had palatable food in this world and indulged in the pleasures of the flesh, whereas a food that will choke and painful torments will be in store for them in the world to come. The severity of such torments is known to no one but God Almighty. In this respect, it is narrated that a Muslim was reciting the blessed Verse in question once while the Noble Prophet (S) listened to him.

The reciter of the Verse cried out of a sudden and lost consciousness.¹ It is also reported that the Noble Prophet (S) was reciting the blessed Verse and had the same experience.² Such people will choke on the food in Hell.

The same theme is reflected elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an³ :

“No food will there be for them but a poisonous thorny plant.”

It is also mentioned in the blessed Verses 43 and 44 that the sinners shall feed on the tree of Zaqqum, the same bitter and poisonous plant of a foul smell.

The blessed Verse 14 concerns the day when such torments shall be inflicted on the sinners, saying:

“On the Day when the earth and the mountains will be in violent shake and the mountains will be a heap of sand.” The Arabic nominal form kathib denotes “dune, sand hill.” The Arabic nominal form mahil implies pouring something soft like sand and flour on something else, though it herein connotes something which is never fixed and permanent.

The blessed Verse reflects that the mountains shall disintegrate on the Day of Resurrection such that they turn into soft sand in which feet sink. Concerning the mountains on the threshold of the Resurrection, there are different Qur’anic expressions all of which reflect that they disintegrate and change into soft soil and sand. Further details may be found above under 20:105.