does not speak from personal desire, or to a spoken Qur’an that affirms it. What is certain is that all of these groups will enter the Fire; as to their remaining in the precise forms and ranks described, Allah knows best. The hypocrites, however, will without doubt be in the lowest depth of the Fire, as the Qur’an explicitly declares.

Al-Qurtubi said: “Some of these names are proper nouns for the whole of the Fire—such as Jahannam, Saʿir, and Laza. These terms do not single out one gate rather than another.” May Allah have mercy on him; he spoke the truth.

Harmalah reported from Ibn Wahb who said: ʿAmr informed me that Darrāj Abū al-Samh related to him that he heard ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Harith ibn Jazʾ al-Zubaydi report from the Prophet ﷺ: “In the Fire there are serpents like the long necks of Bactrian camels. One of them bites a person, and he feels its burning sting for forty autumns.” ⦗1⦘

Al-Tabarani said: Abū Yazid al-Qaratisi narrated to us; Asad ibn Musa narrated to us; Ismaʿil ibn ʿAyyash narrated to us, from al-Rabiʿ, from al-Baraʾ ibn ʿAzib: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked about Allah’s words, “We shall add torment upon torment for them because they used to spread corruption” (Qur’an 16:88). He replied, “They are scorpions the size of tall palm-trees that will gnaw at them in Jahannam.” ⦗2⦘

Al-Thawri also transmitted it from al-Aʿmash, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Murrah, from Masruq, from Ibn Masʿud as his own statement, as mentioned earlier. ⦗3⦘

Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunya said: [Shujaʿ ibn al-Ashras narrated to us; Ismaʿil ibn ʿAyyash narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn ʿAjlan, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from ʿAtaʾ ibn Yasar] from Kaʿb al-Ahbar, who said: “The serpents of Jahannam are like valleys; its scorpions are like great water-jars, and they have tails like spears. One of them meets a disbeliever, stings him, and his flesh falls in pieces down upon his feet.” ⦗4⦘

[The Weeping of the People of the Fire]

Abū Yaʿla al-Mawsili said: ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Samad ibn Abī Khidash narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Humayd ⦗5⦘ narrated to us; from Ibn al-Mubarak, from ʿImran ibn Zayd, who narrated from Yazid al-Raqashi, from Anas ibn Malik, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “O people, weep; and if you cannot weep, then force yourselves to weep. For the people of the Fire will weep in the Fire until their tears run over their faces like streams. When the tears are spent, pus will flow until the eyes split. Were ships set afloat in it, they would sail.” Ibn Majah also related it, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, from Yazid al-Raqashi, from Anas, in similar wording. ⦗6⦘