Imam Aḥmad said: Ḥasan narrated to us; Ibn Lahīʿah narrated to us, from Darrāj, from Abū al-Haytham, from Abū Saʿīd, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said:

“Wayl is a valley in Jahannam. An unbeliever will fall through it for forty years before he reaches the bottom. As for al-Ṣaʿūd, it is a mountain of fire; he will be made to climb it for seventy years, then be hurled down again—and so it will continue forever.”

Al-Tirmidhī likewise transmitted it from ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, from al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā al-Ashyab, from Ibn Lahīʿah, from Darrāj, and then remarked, “It is gharīb; we do not know it [ascribed to the Prophet] except through the chain of Ibn Lahīʿah.” Ibn Jarīr also recorded it from Yūnus, from Ibn Wahb, from ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith, from Darrāj with the same wording. In any case, it is a gharīb ḥadith—indeed, munkar. (1)

The stronger view concerning the word “Wayl” is that it simply denotes the opposite of safety and deliverance, just as the Arabs say: waylun lahu, yā waylahu, waylahu.

Al-Bazzār, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Ibn Mardūyah also narrated—from Shurayk al-Qāḍī, from ʿAmmār al-Duhnī, from ʿAṭiyyah, from Abū Saʿīd—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, with regard to the verse, “I shall bind him to a steep ascent” (al-Muddaththir 74:17), said:

“It is a mountain in the Fire, made of fire. He will be commanded to climb it; when he places his hand on it, it melts, and when he lifts it, it returns as it was. When he sets his foot upon it, it melts, and when he removes it, it returns.” (2)

Qatādah reported that Ibn ʿAbbās said: “Al-Ṣaʿūd is a rock in Jahannam upon which the unbeliever is dragged on his face.”

Al-Suddī likewise said: “It is a smooth rock in Hell that he is compelled to climb.”

Mujāhid said: “‘I shall bind him to a steep ascent’—that is, to an exhausting punishment.”

And Qatādah said: “A torment in which there is no relief,” a view preferred by Ibn Jarīr.

Mention of its snakes and scorpions—may Allah, by His mercy, protect us from them

Allah the Exalted says: “And let not those who are stingy with what Allah has granted them of His bounty think that it is good for them; rather, it is bad for them. That with which they were stingy will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection.” (Āl ʿImrān 3:180)

It is authentically established in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, through the route of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dīnār, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“No owner of a treasure who fails to pay its zakāh will escape having his treasure turned into a bald serpent (3)—with two black fangs (4) clearly visible (5)—which will seize him at the corners of his mouth (6) and declare, ‘I am your wealth, I am your treasure.’” And in