Tafsir al-Baghawi - Al-Baghawi - (8/270)

Tafsir al-BaghawiAl-Baghawi

“And what can make you know what Saqar is? (27) It leaves nothing and spares nothing; (28) scorching the skin. (29) Over it are nineteen.” (30)

“And what can make you know what Saqar is? It leaves nothing and spares nothing”: that is, it leaves and spares nothing within it but that it consumes and destroys it. Mujahid said: “It neither causes death nor grants life”—meaning that it does not leave those within it alive, nor does it leave them dead. Whenever they are burned, they are renewed. Al-Suddi said: “It leaves them neither flesh nor bone.” Al-Dahhak said: “When ⦗179/a⦘ it seizes them, it leaves nothing of them; and when they are restored, it does not spare them until it annihilates them. Everything has weariness and respite, except Hell.”

“Scorching the skin”: it changes the skin until it makes it black. One says, “Illness and grief have changed him,” when they alter his appearance. Mujahid said: “It scorches the skin until it leaves it blacker than the night.” Ibn Abbas and Zayd ibn Aslam said: “It burns the skin.” Al-Hasan and Ibn Kaysan said: “Hell appears before them until they see it with their own eyes.” Its parallel is His saying: “And the Blaze will be exposed to those who went astray” (al-Shu‘ara’ 26:91).

“Scorching” is in the nominative as an adjectival description of “Saqar” in His words, “And what can make you know what Saqar is?” The word bashar is the plural of basharah, meaning skin; its plural is abshar.

“Over it are nineteen”: that is, over the Fire are nineteen angels, its keepers: Malik and eighteen with him. It is related in a report that their eyes are like flashing lightning, their fangs like horns, and flames issue from their mouths. The distance between the shoulders of any one of them is the journey of a year. Mercy has been removed from them. Each one of them lifts seventy thousand and casts them wherever he wills in Hell. (2)

Amr ibn Dinar said: “With a single thrust, one of them will drive into Hell more than the tribes of Rabi‘ah and Mudar.”

Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, and al-Dahhak said: When this verse was revealed, Abu Jahl said to Quraysh, “May your mothers be bereaved of you! I hear Ibn Abi Kabshah telling you that the keepers of the Fire are nineteen, while you are the duhm—that is, brave men. Are ten of you unable to overpower one of the keepers of Hell? (3)”

Abu al-Ashadd (4), Usayd ibn Kaladah ibn Khalaf al-Jumahi, said: “I shall take care of seventeen of them for you: ten on my back and seven on my belly; you take care of the other two for me.”

It is also related that he said: “I shall walk ahead of you over the Bridge and strike ten with my right shoulder and nine with my shoulder—”

(1) Omitted from manuscript “B.” (2) The author of al-Durr al-Manthur (8:333-334) attributed it to Ibn Mardawayh. (3) Reported by al-Tabari, 29:159. See also Sirat Ibn Hisham, 1:335; al-Durr al-Manthur, 8:333. (4) Manuscript “A” reads al-aswad (“the black”); however, the correct reading is the one adopted in the text, as found in al-Qurtubi, al-Bahr, and Ruh al-Ma'ani.

﴿وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا سَقَرُ (٢٧) لَا تُبْقِي وَلَا تَذَرُ (٢٨) لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ (٢٩) عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ (٣٠) ﴾ ﴿وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا سَقَرُ لَا تُبْقِي وَلَا تَذَرُ﴾ أَيْ لَا تُبْقِي وَلَا تَذَرُ فِيهَا شَيْئًا إِلَّا أَكَلَتْهُ وَأَهْلَكَتْهُ. وَقَالَ مُجَاهِدٌ: لَا تُمِيتُ وَلَا تُحْيِي يَعْنِي لَا تُبْقِي مَنْ فِيهَا حَيًّا وَلَا تَذَرُ مَنْ فِيهَا مَيِّتًا كُلَّمَا احْتَرَقُوا جُدِّدُوا. وَقَالَ السُّدِّيُّ: لَا تُبْقِي لَهُمْ لَحْمًا وَلَا تَذَرُ لَهُمْ عَظْمًا. وَقَالَ الضحاك: إذا ١٧٩/أأَخَذَتْ فِيهِمْ لَمْ تُبْقِ مِنْهُمْ شَيْئًا وَإِذَا أُعِيدُوا لَمْ تَذَرْهُمْ حَتَّى تُفْنِيَهُمْ وَلِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ مَلَالَةٌ وَفَتْرَةٌ إِلَّا لِجَهَنَّمَ. ﴿لَوَّاحَةٌ لِلْبَشَرِ﴾ مُغَيِّرَةٌ لِلْجِلْدِ حَتَّى تَجْعَلَهُ أَسْوَدَ، يُقَالُ: لَاحَهُ السُّقْمُ وَالْحُزْنُ إِذَا غَيَّرَهُ، وَقَالَ مُجَاهِدٌ: تَلْفَحُ الْجِلْدَ حَتَّى تَدَعَهُ أَشَدَّ سَوَادًا مِنَ اللَّيْلِ. وَقَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ وَزَيْدُ بْنُ أَسْلَمَ: مُحْرِقَةٌ لِلْجِلْدِ. وَقَالَ الْحَسَنُ وَابْنُ كَيْسَانَ: تُلَوِّحُ لَهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ حَتَّى يَرَوْهَا عَيَانًا نَظِيرُهُ قَوْلُهُ: "وَبُرِّزَتِ الْجَحِيمُ لِلْغَاوِينَ" (الشُّعَرَاءِ-٩١) وَ ﴿لَوَّاحَةٌ﴾ رَفْعٌ عَلَى نَعْتِ "سَقَرَ" فِي قَوْلِهِ: "وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا سَقَرُ" وَ"الْبَشَرُ" جَمْعُ بَشَرَةٍ وَجَمْعُ الْبَشَرِ أَبْشَارٌ. ﴿عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ﴾ [أَيْ: عَلَى] (١) النَّارِ تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ، وَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَا: مَالِكٌ وَمَعَهُ ثَمَانِيَةَ عَشَرَ. وَجَاءَ فِي الْأَثَرِ: أَعْيُنُهُمْ كَالْبَرْقِ الْخَاطِفِ، وَأَنْيَابُهُمْ كَالصَّيَاصِيِّ، يَخْرُجُ لَهَبُ النَّارِ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ، مَا بَيْنَ مَنْكِبَيْ أَحَدِهِمْ مَسِيرَةُ سَنَةٍ، نُزِعَتْ مِنْهُمُ الرَّحْمَةُ، يَرْفَعُ أحدهم سبعين ألف فَيَرْمِيهِمْ حَيْثُ أَرَادَ مِنْ جَهَنَّمَ (٢) . قَالَ عَمْرُو بْنُ دِينَارٍ: إِنَّ وَاحِدًا مِنْهُمْ يَدْفَعُ بِالدَّفْعَةِ الْوَاحِدَةِ فِي جَهَنَّمَ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ رَبِيعَةَ وَمُضَرَ. قَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ، وَقَتَادَةُ، وَالضَّحَّاكُ: لَمَّا نَزَلَتْ هَذِهِ الْآيَةُ قَالَ أَبُو جَهْلٍ لِقُرَيْشٍ: ثَكِلَتْكُمْ أُمَّهَاتُكُمْ، أَسْمَعُ ابْنَ أَبِي كَبْشَةَ يُخْبِرُ أَنَّ خَزَنَةَ النَّارِ تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ وَأَنْتُمُ الدُّهْمُ، أَيِ: الشُّجْعَانُ، أَفَيَعْجِزُ كُلُّ عَشَرَةٍ مِنْكُمْ أَنْ يَبْطِشُوا بِوَاحِدٍ مِنْ خَزَنَةِ جَهَنَّمَ (٣) قَالَ أَبُو [الْأَشَدِّ] (٤) أُسَيْدُ بْنُ كَلَدَةَ بْنِ خَلَفٍ الْجُمَحِيُّ: أَنَا أَكْفِيكُمْ مِنْهُمْ سَبْعَةَ عَشَرَ، عَشْرَةً عَلَى ظَهْرِي وَسَبْعَةً عَلَى بَطْنِي، فَاكْفُونِي أَنْتُمُ اثْنَيْنِ. وَرُوِيَ أَنَّهُ قَالَ: أَنَا أَمْشِي بَيْنَ أَيْدِيكُمْ عَلَى الصِّرَاطِ فَأَدْفَعُ عَشَرَةً بِمَنْكِبِي الْأَيْمَنِ وَتِسْعَةً بِمَنْكِبِي

(١) ساقط من "ب". (٢) عزاه صاحب الدر المنثور: ٨ / ٣٣٣-٣٣٤ لابن مردويه. (٣) أخرجه الطبري: ٢٩ / ١٥٩. وانظر: سيرة ابن هشام: ١ / ٣٣٥، الدر المنثور: ٨ / ٣٣٣. (٤) في "أ" الأسود والصحيح ما أثبت كما هو في القرطبي والبحر وروح المعاني.