to disbelieve, he cast him into the Fire; but whoever renounced the religion of Jesus was not cast into it. A woman came with a small child who could not yet speak. When she stood at the edge of the trench and looked at her son, she drew back from the Fire. She was beaten until she stepped forward, yet she continued in this state three times. When, on the third occasion, she again began to draw back, her son said to her, “Mother, I see before you a fire that will never be extinguished.” When she heard this, they both cast themselves into the Fire. Allah placed her and her son in Paradise. Seventy-seven people were cast into the Fire on a single day. This is the meaning of His saying, exalted is He: “Destroyed were the companions of the trench.”

“The fire, full of fuel, when they sat around it, watching what they were doing to the believers. They resented them only because they believed in Allah—the Almighty, the Praiseworthy—to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. And Allah is Witness over all things.”

“The fire, full of fuel” is in apposition to “the trench.” Al-Rabi ibn Anas said: “Allah saved the believers who were cast into the Fire by taking their souls before the Fire could touch them, and the Fire came out upon the disbelievers standing at the edge of the trench and burned them.” (1)

“When they sat around it,” meaning, they sat by the Fire to torment (2) the believers. Mujahid said: “They sat upon chairs by the trench.” (3)

“And they”—that is, the king and his companions who dug the trench (4)—“were watching what they were doing to the believers,” by presenting them to the Fire and seeking to make them return to their religion; “watching,” that is, present. Muqatil said: This means that they testified that the believers were astray when they abandoned the worship of the idol.

“They resented them only because they believed in Allah.” Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: “They disliked nothing about them except that they believed in Allah.” Muqatil said: “They found no fault with them.” It was also said: “They knew of no defect in them.” Al-Zajjaj said: “They did not condemn them for any sin except their faith in Allah, the Almighty, the Praiseworthy, to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. And Allah is Witness over all things”—that is, over their deeds.