“So taste! We shall only increase you in torment.” This command is one of humiliation and rebuke. In other words, it will be said to the people of the Fire: “Taste the torment in humiliation and disgrace. We shall neither remove it from you nor lighten it for you. Indeed, We shall not even leave you as you are; We shall only increase your torment in intensity, duration, and kind.” In another verse, they will say to the keepers of Hell: “Call upon your Lord to lighten the torment for us for one day” [Ghāfir: 49]. Consider this statement from several angles:

First, they will not ask Allah, Mighty and Majestic, but will instead ask the keepers of Hell to supplicate on their behalf. This is because Allah said to them: “Remain despised therein, and do not speak to Me” [al-Mu’minūn: 108]. They will consider themselves unworthy to ask Allah or call upon Him directly; rather, they will appeal to Him only through an intermediary.

Second, they will say, “Call upon your Lord,” rather than, “Call upon our Lord.” Their faces and hearts will be unable to speak of Allah’s Lordship as belonging to them by saying, “our Lord.” Such will be their shame and disgrace that they will consider themselves unworthy of having Allah’s Lordship attributed to them. They will therefore say, “your Lord.”

Third, they will not ask for the torment to be removed, but will say, “lighten,” because they will have despaired—Allah is our refuge—of its ever being removed from them.

Fourth, they will not ask for the torment to be lightened permanently. Rather, they will say, “for one day of the torment”—just a single day. This makes clear the torment, humiliation, and abasement they will be suffering: “You will see them exposed to it, humbled in disgrace, looking with furtive glances” [al-Shūrā: 45]. May Allah protect us from it.