Az-Zumar (The Groups)

16. They shall have coverings of Fire above them and coverings [of Fire] beneath them. With this [torment] Allah frightens His servants: “O My servants, therefore fear Me!”

The chastisement of those who have turned away from God Almighty and have turned toward others and have thereby incurred loss is that fire encompasses them from all sides.

The Noble Verse in question thus presents a depiction of manifest loss:

“for and above them stand canopies of fire and beneath them are canopies of fire as well!”

Thus, they are enfolded with fire. What loss may be worse than that? What torment may be more excruciating that that?

The word sulal, the plural form of sulla, indicates “awning, marquee, and canopy” installed from above, hence its application to the sense of a carpet spread underneath is a metaphorical extension of the semantic range of the word.

Some exegets maintain that since the people of Hell are entangled in the layers of Hell, coverings of fire are both above and below them and even the word sulal is not supposed to be applied to lower coverings.

A similar depiction is to be found elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an¹ :

“On the Day when the torment shall cover them from above them and from underneath their feet and it will be said: ‘Taste what you used to do!’”

It is a depiction of the state of their world in which ignorance, disbelief, and wrong doing encompassed them.

Further emphasis is laid on it to give them a lesson:

“With this [torment] Allah frightens His servants: ‘O My servants, therefore fear Me!’”

The word:

‘ibad (“servants”) and its relation to “God” reiterated in this blessed Verse indicates that Divine Warning against torment is for His Mercy and Favor so that His servants do not meet such ominous fate; as a consequence of which it becomes clear that the word ibad ad hoc does not necessarily signify “believers” rather it is applied to everyone, since in case of wrong doing, no one is secure from Divine torment.