ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr and Mujāhid said that it is a valley among the valleys of Jahannam. ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr further added: it is a deep ravine by which, on the Day of Resurrection, the people of guidance will be separated from the people of misguidance.

Al-Bayhaqī transmitted—through al-Ḥākim, al-Aṣamm, al-ʿAbbās al-Dūrī, Ibn Maʿīn, Hushaym, al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab, and ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Khawlānī—who said:

“A man from the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Damascus and saw the worldly luxury in which the people were engrossed. He said, ‘Of what use to them is all that they possess of this world? Is not al-falaq awaiting them?’ [They asked, ‘What is al-falaq?’ He replied, ‘A pit in the Fire; when it is opened, the inhabitants of the Fire howl in terror.’ This is how Yaḥyā worded it: ‘the inhabitants of the Fire howl in terror,’ and he did not say, ‘they flee from it’ or ‘they run away from it’.] (1)

Al-Bayhaqī also related—through al-Ḥākim and others, via al-Aṣamm, from Ibrāhīm ibn Marzūq (2) in Egypt, from Saʿīd ibn ʿĀmir, from Shuʿbah—who said:

“Manṣūr wrote to me, and I read his letter aloud to him: from Mujāhid, from Yazīd ibn Shajara—who was one of the ascetics and whom Muʿāwiya used to place in command of the armies. He delivered a sermon to us one day, praised Allah and extolled Him, then said:

‘O people, remember Allah’s blessing upon you—how excellent is the trace of His favour upon you! If only you could see what I see: red and yellow and every colour, and what the packs contain. When the prayer is established, the gates of heaven, of Paradise, and of Hell are opened; and when the two ranks meet in battle, the gates of Paradise and the gates of Hell are opened, and the wide-eyed houris are adorned and look on. When one of you turns his face resolutely toward fighting and toward the prayer, they say: “O Allah, keep him firm; O Allah, grant him victory!” But if he turns his back they veil themselves from him and say: “O Allah, forgive him.”

‘So strike the faces of the enemy (3)—may my father and mother be ransomed for you—for the very first drop of blood that falls from any one of you, Allah removes his sins thereby just as a branch sheds the leaves of a tree. Two of the wide-eyed houris then hasten to him, wipe the dust from his face and say, “We are yours,” and he replies, “I am yours.” He is clothed with a hundred robes; were they placed between these two fingers of mine they would fill the space between them. They are not woven by the children of Adam, but are garments from Paradise.

‘Indeed, you are recorded with Allah—by your names, your appearances, your private conversations, your ornaments, and your places of sitting. When the Day of Resurrection comes it will be announced: “So-and-so, here is your light; so-and-so, you have no light.” And verily, Jahannam has pits (4) along a shoreline like the shore of the sea. In them are creatures: serpents like Bukht camels, and scorpions like dark-coloured mules or like black mules (5). When the inhabitants of the Fire ask for the punishment to be lightened, they will be told: “Go out to the shore.” They go out, whereupon those creatures seize them by their lips and their sides—and wherever else Allah wills—and flay them (6). They flee back in panic and throw themselves into the main body of the Fire, and over them there shall be set…’"}