“It will be said, ‘Enter the gates of Hell, to remain there forever. How wretched is the abode of the arrogant!’ Those who feared their Lord will be led to Paradise in groups, until, when they reach it and its gates are opened, its keepers will say to them, ‘Peace be upon you! You have become pure, so enter it, to remain there forever.’” (72–73)

His saying, exalted is He, “It will be said, ‘Enter the gates of Hell, to remain there forever. How wretched is the abode of the arrogant!’ Those who feared their Lord will be led to Paradise in groups, until, when they reach it and its gates are opened”: the Kufan scholars of recitation said that this waw is superfluous, so that the answer to the clause, “until, when they reach it,” is established, as it is in the account of the driving of the disbelievers. This is like Allah’s saying, exalted is He: “We certainly gave Moses and Aaron the Criterion and a light” (al-Anbiya 48)—that is, a light—and the waw is superfluous.

It was also said that the waw is the waw of circumstance; its sense is: “while its gates had already been opened.” The waw was included to show that its gates had been opened before their arrival, whereas its omission in the first verse shows that Hell’s gates had been closed before their arrival.

If the waw in His saying, “and its gates are opened,” is not deemed superfluous, they differed concerning the answer to the clause, “and its keepers will say to them”; the waw in it is disregarded. Its implied form is: “until, when they reach it, its gates are opened, and its keepers say to them.” Al-Zajjaj said: In my view, the answer is omitted. Its implied form is: “Until, when they reach it, its gates are opened, and its keepers say to them, ‘Peace be upon you! You have become pure, so enter it, to remain there forever,’ they enter it.” The words “they enter it” were omitted because the context indicates them.

“And its keepers will say to them, ‘Peace be upon you! You have become pure’”: this means that the keepers of Paradise will greet them with peace and say, “You have become pure.” Ibn Abbas said: Your abode has become good for you. Qatadah said: After they have crossed the Fire, they will be detained on a bridge between Paradise and Hell, where they will settle their claims against one another. Once they have been refined and purified, they will be admitted into Paradise. Then Ridwan and his companions will say to them: “Peace be upon you! You have become pure, so enter it, to remain there forever.” (2)

It is related from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: They will be led to Paradise, and when they arrive there, they will find at its gate a tree from beneath whose trunk two springs flow. The believer will wash from one of them, and his outward state will be purified; he will drink from the other, and his inward state will be purified. The angels will receive them at the gates of Paradise, saying: “Peace be upon you! You have become pure, so enter it, to remain there forever.” (3)