on the jim, with the ba unvowelled and without doubling the lam. The remaining reciters read it with u-vowels on both the jim and the ba, without doubling the lam. All of these are dialectal variants, and they all mean: created beings and a multitude—that is, a great many people. “Did you not then understand?”—what befell the earlier nations when they obeyed Iblis? When they draw near to the Fire, they will be told:

“This is Hell, which you were promised. (63) Enter it today because you used to disbelieve. (64) Today We shall seal their mouths; their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will bear witness to what they used to earn. (65)”

“This is Hell, which you were promised” in this world. “Enter it”: enter therein. “Today We shall seal their mouths; their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will bear witness to what they used to earn.” This will occur when the disbelievers deny their disbelief and their rejection of the messengers. Their mouths will then be sealed, and their limbs will testify against them.

‘Abd al-Wahid ibn Ahmad al-Mulayhi informed us; Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn ‘Amr ibn Hafsawayh al-Sarakhsī informed us in the year 335 AH; Abu Yazid Hatim ibn Mahbub informed us; ‘Abd al-Jabbar ibn al-‘Ala’ informed us; Sufyan informed us, from Suhayl ibn Abi Salih, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, who said:

The people asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, saying, “O Messenger of Allah, shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?” He said, “Do you have any difficulty seeing the sun at midday when it is not obscured by clouds?” They said, “No, O Messenger of Allah.” He said, “And do you have any difficulty seeing the moon on the night when it is full, when it is not obscured by a cloud?” They said, “No.”

He said, “By Him in whose Hand is my soul, you will have no more difficulty seeing your Lord than you have in seeing either of them.” He said, “Then He will meet a servant and say, ‘My servant, did I not honour you? Did I not make you a leader? Did I not give you a wife? Did I not subject horses and camels to you and leave you to exercise authority and live in ease?’ The servant will say, ‘Yes, my Lord.’ He will say, ‘Did you think that you would meet Me?’ He will say, ‘No.’ He will say, ‘Then today I shall forsake you, just as you forsook Me.’

“Then He will meet the second and say, ‘Did I not honour you? Did I not make you a leader? Did I not give you a wife? Did I not subject horses and camels to you and leave you to exercise authority and live in ease?’—another narrator from Sufyan said, ‘You exercised authority and lived in ease,’ in both instances—the servant will say, ‘Yes, ⦗93/b⦘ O Lord.’ He will say, ‘Did you think that you would meet Me?’ He will say, ‘No, O Lord.’ He will say, ‘Then today I shall forsake you, just as you forsook Me.’

“Then He will meet the third and say, ‘What are you?’ He will say, ‘I am Your servant. I believed in You, in Your Prophet, and in Your Book; I prayed, fasted, and gave charity,’ and he will mention as much good of himself as he can. It will then be said to him, ‘Have We not sent forth Our witness against you?’ He will reflect within himself: ‘Who is it that will testify against me?’ Then his mouth will be sealed, and his thigh will be told, ‘Speak.’ His thigh, flesh, and bones will then speak of what he used to do. That is the hypocrite; this is so that he will have no excuse left against himself. That is the one with whom Allah is displeased.” (1)

Abu Sa‘id ‘Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Tahiri informed us; my grandfather, Abu Sahl ‘Abd al-Samad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz, informed us; Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-‘Udhafari informed us; Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Dabari informed us; ‘Abd al-Razzaq informed us,