Al-Hasan and Qatadah said: It is a formidable ascent in the Fire, beneath the Bridge; so cross it through obedience to Allah, Most High. (1)

Mujahid, al-Dahhak, and al-Kalbi said: It is a bridge stretched over Hell, as sharp as the edge of a sword. Its passage spans three thousand years: a level stretch, an ascent, and a descent. Along its two sides are hooks and grapnels like the thorns of the sa'dan, a thorny desert plant. Thus, one person is saved unharmed; another is saved but scratched; and another is hurled headlong, piled up in the Fire. Among people are those who pass like a flash of lightning, those who pass like a raging wind, those who pass like a mounted rider, those who pass like a man running, those who pass like a man walking, and those who crawl; among them are those who slip, and among them are those who are hurled into the Fire.

Ibn Zayd said: That is, why did he not take the path in which there is salvation?

“And what can make you know what the steep ascent is? (12) It is freeing a slave, (13) or feeding on a day of severe hunger.” (14)

He then explained what it is, saying: “And what can make you know what the steep ascent is?” That is, what it means to undertake the steep ascent. Sufyan ibn Uyaynah said: Everything concerning which He says, “And what can make you know?” He has informed of it; whereas whatever He says, “And what will make you know?” He has not informed of it.

Regarding “freeing a slave, or feeding”: Ibn Kathir, Abu Amr, and al-Kisa'i read it as “fakka raqabatan aw at'ama”—“he freed a slave or fed”—with the final consonant of fakka pronounced with an a-vowel, raqabatan in the accusative, and at'ama as a past-tense verb. The others read it as “fakku raqabatin aw it'amun”—“freeing a slave, or feeding”—as verbal nouns: fakku in the nominative, raqabatin in the genitive, and it'amun beginning with an i-vowel, with a long a after the ayn, and ending in -un. (2)

By freeing a slave, He means emancipating and releasing him. Whoever frees a slave, that will serve as his ransom from the Fire.

Abd al-Wahid al-Malihi informed us; Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Sam'an informed us; Abu Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Jabbar al-Rayani narrated to us; Humayd ibn Zanjawayh narrated to us; Abdullah ibn Salih narrated to us; al-Layth ibn Sa'd narrated to me; Ibn al-Had narrated to me, from Umar ibn Ali ibn Husayn, from Sa'id ibn Marjanah, who said: I heard him narrating from Abu Hurayrah, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “Whoever frees a believing slave, Allah will free, for every limb of his, a corresponding limb from the Fire, until He frees his private parts in return for his private parts.” (3)

Abd al-Wahid al-Malihi informed us; Abu Mansur al-Sam'ani informed us; Abu Ja'far al-Rayani informed us; Humayd ibn Zanjawayh narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Abdi narrated to us; Isa ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami narrated to us, from Talhah