“And for them are maces of iron. (21) Whenever, in anguish, they seek to escape from it, they will be driven back into it, and, ‘Taste the punishment of the Burning Fire.’ (22) Indeed, Allah will admit those who believe and do righteous deeds into gardens beneath which rivers flow. They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearls, and their garments therein will be silk.” (23)

His saying, exalted is He: “And for them are maces of iron”: that is, whips of iron; the singular is miqmaʿah. Al-Layth said: A miqmaʿah is an iron mace, derived from the expression, “I struck his head down,” when one strikes him violently. It is related: “If an iron mace were placed upon the earth, then all mankind and the jinn gathered to lift it, they would not be able to raise it from the ground.” (1)

“Whenever, in anguish, they seek to escape from it”: that is, whenever they attempt to escape from the Fire because of the distress and anguish that takes their breath away, “they will be driven back into it”—that is, returned to it by the maces. It is stated in the exegesis that Hell will surge with them and cast them up to its summit. As they seek to escape from it, the keepers of Hell will strike them with iron maces, and they will plunge down into it for seventy years.

“And, ‘Taste the punishment of the Burning Fire’”: that is, the angels will say to them, “Taste the punishment of the Burning Fire,” meaning the fire that burns, just as “painful” and “causing pain” are used interchangeably.

Al-Zajjaj said: These are one of the two adversaries. Concerning the other—the believers—He says: “Indeed, Allah will admit those who believe and do righteous deeds into gardens beneath which rivers flow. They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold.”

“Indeed, Allah will admit those who believe and do righteous deeds into gardens beneath which rivers flow. They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold”: asāwir is the plural of siwār, meaning a bracelet. “And pearls”: the reciters of Madinah and ʿAsim recited “and pearls” here and in Surat Fatir in the accusative case; Yaʿqub agreed with them here, on the implied meaning, “They will be adorned with pearls.” It is also written with an alif in the written copies of the Quran. The other reciters read it in the genitive case, coordinated with the phrase “of gold.” Abu Jaʿfar and Abu Bakr omit the first hamzah throughout the Quran. They differed concerning the reason for retaining the alif in it: Abu ʿAmr said, “They retained it just as they retained it in qālū (‘they said’) and kānū (‘they were’).” Al-Kisaʾi said, “They retained it because of the hamzah, for the hamzah is a letter.”

“And their garments therein will be silk”: that is, in Paradise they will wear garments of silk, the wearing of which was forbidden to men in this world.

ʿAbd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi Shurayh informed us; Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi informed us; ʿAli ibn al-Jaʿd informed us; Shuʿbah informed us, from Qatadah, from Dawud al-Sarraj, from Abu Saʿid al-Khudri, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,