“When it sees them from a distant place, they will hear it raging and roaring. And when they are cast into a narrow place within it, bound together, they will cry out there for destruction. ‘Do not cry out today for destruction only once, but cry out for destruction many times!’”

“When it sees them from a distant place”—that is, before they reach it and it reaches them—“they will hear it raging” against them “and roaring,” causing their very souls to quake and their hearts to break apart. Each of them will nearly die of fear and terror. It is enraged with them because its Creator is angry with them, and its flames have intensified as their disbelief and evil increased.

“And when they are cast into a narrow place within it, bound together”—that is, at the time of their punishment, while they are in its midst. The confinement of the place, the crowding of its inhabitants, and their being bound in chains and shackles will all be combined. When they reach that ill-fated place and are confined in the worst imprisonment, “they will cry out there for destruction.” They will call down destruction, disgrace, and humiliation upon themselves. They will realize that they were wrongdoers and transgressors, and that the Creator dealt justly with them by consigning them, on account of their deeds, to this abode. But that plea and cry for help will neither benefit them nor avail them against Allah’s punishment. Rather, they will be told: “Do not cry out today for destruction only once, but cry out for destruction many times!” That is, even if you multiplied your cries many times over, they would bring you nothing but anguish, distress, and sorrow.

After explaining the recompense of the wrongdoers, it was fitting to mention the recompense of the God-fearing, so He said: