As-Saaffaat (Those drawn up in Ranks)

22. “(And Allah will command the angels:) ‘Gather you together those who were unjust and their mates and what they used to worship,”

23. “Besides Allah, and lead them (all) unto the path of Hell’.”

24. “And stop them, for verily they must be questioned:”

He, who does not accept the Divine guidance in the world, will be lead to the Hell on the Day of Hereafter.

Therefore, Allah will command the angels, who are responsible to send the guilty toward the Hell, as follows:

“(And Allah will command the angels:) ‘Gather you together those who were unjust and their mates and what they used to worship,”

This is enough for the wretchedness of man that he should be mustered together with inanimate idols.

And in the next verse the noble Qur’an implies that whatever they worshipped, besides Allah, should be lead to the Hell. Thus, the wrong objects of worship not only are not able to solve any problem, but also they themselves will have difficulty.

The Qur’anic term /’uhšuru/ is derived from /hašr/, and as Raqib says in Mufradat, it means to excel a group of people from their place and to send them to a battle-field, and the like. In many instances, this word has been used in the sense of: ‘gathering javelins’.

However, this statement is either from the side of Allah or from the side of a group of angels unto another group who are responsible to gathering and moving the guilty toward the Hell, and the consequence is the same.

The Arabic word /’azwaj/ (wives) here refers to their guilty wives who are idol worshippers, or to those who have the same opinion and manner with theirs, because this word has been used in both of these two meanings; as we recite in Surah Al-Waqi‘ah, No. 56, verse 7:

“And you shall be sorted out into three classes.”

Therefore, the polytheists together with polytheists, and wrong doers together with people and things like them, will be sent into the Hell in some rows.

Or the purpose is the Satans who had the same shape and the same action as theirs.

In the meanwhile, these three meanings do not contrast with each other, and they all may be found in the concept of the verse.

The Qur’anic sentence:

‘… and what they used to worship’

refers to the polytheists’ object, of worship, irrespective of idols, Satans, and the cruel people such as Pharaohs and Namruds. And this meaning may be for the sake of this that their objects of worship were some inanimate things that had no intellect.

The Qur’anic word /jahim/ means Hell and is derived from /jahmah/ with the sense of ‘violence of the burning fire’.

The Qur’an says:

“Besides Allah, and lead them (all) unto the path of Hell’.”

It is interesting that the Qur’an renders it into:

‘lead them (all) unto the path of Hell’.

What a wonderful sentence it is! One day they were lead unto the Straight Way, but they did not accept it, but today they must be lead unto the path of Hell, and they have to accept it. This is a heavy blame which burns their souls deeply.

The next verse implies that the command will be issued saying:

“And stop them, for verily they must be questioned:”

Yes, they must be stopped and answer some different questions. But, what will they be questioned of? Some commentators have said that they will be questioned of the innovations they have left.

Some other commentators of the Holy Qur’an have said they will be questioned of the ugly deeds and sins they have committed.

Some have added that they will be asked of Unity, and of ‘there is no god but Allah’.

A group of them have said they will be questioned of different bounties: the bounties of their youth, health, lifetime, wealth, and the like. A well known tradition narrated by the Sunnites and Shi‘ites indicates that they will be questioned of ‘the friendship (Wilayah) of Ali (as)’.

This matter has also been narrated in Sawa‘iq from Abu Sa‘id Khidri, from the Prophet (S); and also in Shawahid-ut-Tanzil by Hakim Abul-Ghasim Huskani it has also been narrated from him (S). It has also been recorded in ‘Uyun ’Akhbar-ur-Rida narrated from Ali-ibn-Musar-Rida (as)¹ .

These commentaries, of course, do not contradict with each other, because on that Day everything will be questioned of: of beliefs, of Unity, of friendship (Wilayah), of sayings and deeds, and of the bounties and merits that Allah has bestowed on man.