Muqatil said, “The Fire strips away the extremities, leaving neither flesh nor skin.”

Al-Dahhak said, “It strips the skin and flesh from the bone.”

Sa‘id ibn Jubayr reported from Ibn Abbas that it refers to “the sinews and the heels.”

Al-Kalbi said, “It reaches the crown of the head and consumes the entire brain; then it is restored as it was, and it returns to consume it again. This is its constant practice.”

Qatadah said, “It strips away the noblest parts of his body and his extremities.” Abu al-Aliyah said, “The beautiful features of his face.”

Ibn Jarir (1) said, “Al-shawa refers to a person’s limbs, excluding any vital spot. It is said, ‘He shot and merely wounded,’ when he strikes the extremities without striking a fatal point (2).”

“It calls whoever turned his back and turned away (17), and amassed wealth and hoarded it (18). Indeed, man was created anxious (19): when evil touches him, he is impatient (20); and when good touches him, he is withholding (21).”

“It calls” means: the Fire calls people to itself—“Come to me, O polytheist! Come to me, O hypocrite! Come to me, come to me!” Ibn Abbas said, “It calls the disbelievers and hypocrites by their names in an eloquent tongue, then snatches them up as a bird picks up grain.”

It is related from al-Khalil that he said: “It calls” means, it punishes. He also said: “One Bedouin said to another, ‘May Allah call you,’ meaning, ‘May Allah punish you.’”

“And amassed”: that is, he amassed wealth. “And hoarded it”: he kept it (3) in containers and did not render Allah’s due from it.

“Indeed, man was created anxious”: al-Suddi narrated from Abu Salih, from Ibn Abbas, who said (4), “The anxious person is one avid for what is unlawful to him.” Sa‘id ibn Jubayr said, “He is miserly.” Ikrimah said, “He is fretful.” Al-Dahhak and al-Hasan said, “He is stingy.” Qatadah said, “He is impatient.” Muqatil said, “He is narrow-hearted.”

Anxiety is intense greed and little patience. Atiyyah narrated from Ibn Abbas that its explanation is found in what follows: “When evil touches him, he is impatient; and when good touches him, he is withholding”—that is, when poverty afflicts him, he does not endure patiently; and when he acquires wealth, he does not spend.

Ibn Kaysan said, “Allah created man loving what pleases him and fleeing from what he dislikes; then He charged him with spending what he loves and patiently bearing what he dislikes.” Then He made an exception, saying: