befalls none except those who refused to prostrate to Him in this worldly life, as al-Ṭaḥāwī has stated. In light of this, the fact that the sun and the moon are flung into the Fire admits two possible interpretations:
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They will serve as fuel for Hell-fire.
Al-Ismāʿīlī said: “Their being placed in the Fire does not necessarily mean that they are themselves being punished, for Allah has placed within Hell angels, stones, and other things to be a torment and an instrument of punishment for its inhabitants; yet those things themselves are not punished.”
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They will be cast therein as a humiliation for those who worshipped them.
Al-Khaṭṭābī said: “The purpose of their presence in the Fire is not to punish them, but to rebuke those who used to worship them in the world, so that the worshippers may realize that their devotion was futile.”
I (al-Albānī) say: This second view is closest to the wording of the ḥadīth, and it is reinforced by the narration of Anas recorded by Abū Yaʿlā—cited in Fatḥ (6/214)—which states: “so that those who worshipped them may see them.” I did not find it in his Musnad. Allah knows best.
125 – “Whoever wishes to look at a man walking upon the earth who has already fulfilled his pledge, let him look at Ṭalḥah.”
Ibn Saʿd narrated it in al-Ṭabaqāt (3/1/155): Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr told us; Ṣāliḥ ibn Mūsā narrated from Muʿāwiyah ibn Isḥāq, from ʿĀʾishah bint Ṭalḥah, from ʿĀʾishah who said, “I was in my house while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions were in the courtyard, with a curtain between them and me. Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allah approached, whereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said…”—and she mentioned the ḥadīth.