He said, “The truth—and the truth I speak—is that I shall surely fill Hell with you and with all of them who follow you. (84) Say, ‘I ask of you no payment for this, nor am I one of those who pretend. (86) It is nothing but a reminder to all the worlds. (87) And you will surely come to know its tidings after a time.’ (88)”

Regarding His words, “He said, ‘By Your might, I will surely lead them all astray, except Your chosen servants among them.’ He said, ‘The truth—and the truth I speak’”: ‘Asim, Hamzah, and Ya‘qub recited the first occurrence, al-haqqu (“the Truth”), with the final qaf in the nominative, as a subject whose predicate is omitted; its implied meaning is: “The Truth is from Me.” They recited the second in the accusative, meaning: “And I speak the truth.” This was stated by Mujahid. The other reciters read both occurrences in the accusative, though they differed concerning the grammatical explanation.

It was said that the first is in the accusative as an exhortation, as though He had said, “Hold fast to the truth,” while the second is in the accusative because it is the object of the verb “I speak”—that is, “I speak the truth.” It was also said that the first is an oath: “By the Truth”—and the Truth is Allah, exalted is He. It is thus in the accusative through the omission of [the governing preposition—namely] the particle ba’ (“by”) (1). The second is in the accusative because it is the object of the verb “I speak.” It was further said that the second is a repetition of the oath: Allah swore by Himself.

“I shall surely fill Hell with you and with all of them who follow you. Say, ‘I ask of you no payment for this’”—that is, for conveying the Message—“nor am I one of those who pretend”: that is, among those who fabricate the Quran of their own accord. Whoever says something of his own accord has contrived it.

‘Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Nu‘aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma‘il related to us; Jarir related to us from al-A‘mash, from Abu al-Duha, from Masruq, who said: We entered upon ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud, and he said, “O people, whoever knows something should speak of it, and whoever does not know should say, ‘Allah knows best.’ Indeed, part of knowledge is for a person to say of what he does not know, ‘Allah knows best.’ Allah, Most High, said to His Prophet: ‘Say, “I ask of you no payment for this, nor am I one of those who pretend.”’” (2)

His words, “It is nothing but a reminder,” refer to the Quran: it is an admonition “to all the worlds,” that is, to all creation.

“And you will surely come to know”—O disbelievers of Mecca—“its tidings”: the truth of its message, “after a time.” Ibn ‘Abbas and Qatadah said: after death. ‘Ikrimah said: on the Day of Resurrection. Al-Kalbi said: Whoever remains alive will know it when its matter becomes manifest and prevails, while whoever dies will know it after his death. Al-Hasan said: “O son of Adam, at death the certain news will come to you.” (3)