“And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, eyes with which they do not see, and ears with which they do not hear. They are like livestock—indeed, even further astray. It is they who are heedless. And to Allah belong the Most Beautiful Names, so call upon Him by them, and leave those who deviate concerning His names. They will be recompensed for what they used to do.” (179–180)

Regarding His saying, “And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind”: Allah Most High informs us that He created many among the jinn and mankind for the Fire. They are those upon whom the eternal decree of wretchedness has come to pass. Whoever Allah has created for Hell has no means of escaping it.

Abu Bakr Yaqub ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sayrafi informed us; Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Makhladi informed us; Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Hamzah al-Balkhi informed us; Musa ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hakam al-Shatawi narrated to us; Hafs ibn Ghiyath narrated to us, from Talhah ibn Yahya, from Aishah bint Talhah, from Aishah, the Mother of the Believers, who said: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, came upon the funeral of a child from among the children of the Ansar. Aishah said, “Glad tidings for him: a bird among the birds of Paradise.” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “What makes you know? Allah created Paradise and created for it its people while they were still in the loins of their fathers; and He created the Fire and created for it its people while they were still in the loins of their fathers.” (1)

It has also been said that the preposition rendered “for” in His saying, “for Hell,” denotes the eventual outcome: that is, We created them, and the outcome of their affair is Hell—just as Allah Most High says, “Then the family of Pharaoh picked him up so that he would become for them an enemy and a cause of grief.” [al-Qasas 8]

He then described them, saying: “They have hearts with which they do not understand”—that is, they do not recognize by them what is good and rightly guided. “They have eyes with which they do not see” the path of truth and the way of right guidance; “and they have ears with which they do not hear” the admonitions of the Quran, so as to reflect upon them and take heed through them.

He then likened them, in their ignorance and their limiting themselves to eating and drinking, saying: “They are like livestock—indeed, even further astray.” That is, they are like livestock in that their sole concern is eating, drinking, and indulging their desires. Rather, they are further astray, because livestock can distinguish between what harms and what benefits them, and therefore do not venture into what harms them; whereas these people advance toward the Fire in stubborn defiance, despite knowing that it leads to destruction. “It is they who are heedless.”

Regarding His saying, “And to Allah belong the Most Beautiful Names, so call upon Him by them”: Muqatil said: This was because a man invoked Allah in his prayer and invoked al-Rahman, the Most Merciful. Some of the polytheists of Mecca said, “Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and his companions claim (2) that they worship a Lord...”