of extreme coldness, so that they may taste punishment from both directions: heat and cold. Indeed, some commentators have said that “foul pus” means the pus of the people of the Fire, together with the foul matter, sweat, and other substances that issue from within them. In any event, the noble verse indicates that they will taste nothing but this drink, whose heat tears their intestines apart and whose cold rends their livers. We ask Allah for safety and well-being. When these various forms of punishment are combined, their torment is multiplied all the more.
“A fitting recompense”—that is, they will be recompensed in a manner commensurate with their deeds, without being wronged. Allah, Glorified and Exalted, says: “Indeed, Allah does not wrong people in the least, but it is people who wrong themselves” [Yūnus: 44]. Thus, this recompense corresponds precisely to their deeds. He then explains how this punishment corresponds to those deeds, saying:
“Indeed, they did not expect a reckoning and utterly denied Our signs.”
He mentions their deviation in belief and their deviation in speech. “Indeed, they did not expect a reckoning” means that they did not anticipate being called to account; rather, they denied the Reckoning and the Resurrection, saying: “There is nothing but our life in this world: we die and live, and nothing destroys us but time.” They therefore did not anticipate any reckoning in which they would be called to account, because they denied it. This was the belief of their hearts. As for their tongues, they declared the truth false, saying, “This is a lie; this is magic; this is madness,” and the like. Allah’s Book records the descriptions these deniers applied to Allah’s messengers. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: “Likewise, no messenger came to those before them without their saying, ‘A magician or a madman!’” [al-Dhāriyāt: 52]. Allah Most High says concerning those who denied Muhammad—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him: “The disbelievers say, ‘This is a lying magician’” [Sād: 4]. They also said that he was a poet: “Or do they say, ‘A poet for whom we await a fatal turn of fortune’?” [al-Tūr: 30]. “They said, ‘O you upon whom the Reminder has been sent down, you are surely mad! Why do you not bring us the angels, if you are truthful?’” [al-Hijr: 7]. Had Allah not made firm the feet—