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Ayah
Word by Word
وَمَا
And not
جَعَلۡنَآ
We have made
أَصۡحَٰبَ
keepers
ٱلنَّارِ
(of) the Fire
إِلَّا
except
مَلَٰٓئِكَةٗۖ
Angels
وَمَا
And not
جَعَلۡنَا
We have made
عِدَّتَهُمۡ
their number
إِلَّا
except
فِتۡنَةٗ
(as) a trial
لِّلَّذِينَ
for those who
كَفَرُواْ
disbelieve
لِيَسۡتَيۡقِنَ
that may be certain
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
أُوتُواْ
were given
ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ
the Scripture
وَيَزۡدَادَ
and may increase
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
ءَامَنُوٓاْ
believe
إِيمَٰنٗا
(in) faith
وَلَا
and not
يَرۡتَابَ
may doubt
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
أُوتُواْ
were given
ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ
the Scripture
وَٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ
and the believers
وَلِيَقُولَ
and that may say
ٱلَّذِينَ
those
فِي
in
قُلُوبِهِم
their hearts
مَّرَضٞ
(is) a disease
وَٱلۡكَٰفِرُونَ
and the disbelievers
مَاذَآ
What
أَرَادَ
(does) intend
ٱللَّهُ
Allah
بِهَٰذَا
by this
مَثَلٗاۚ
example
كَذَٰلِكَ
Thus
يُضِلُّ
does let go astray
ٱللَّهُ
Allah
مَن
whom
يَشَآءُ
He wills
وَيَهۡدِي
and guides
مَن
whom
يَشَآءُۚ
He wills
وَمَا
And none
يَعۡلَمُ
knows
جُنُودَ
(the) hosts
رَبِّكَ
(of) your Lord
إِلَّا
except
هُوَۚ
Him
وَمَا
And not
هِيَ
it
إِلَّا
(is) but
ذِكۡرَىٰ
a reminder
لِلۡبَشَرِ
to (the) human beings
وَمَا
And not
جَعَلۡنَآ
We have made
أَصۡحَٰبَ
keepers
ٱلنَّارِ
(of) the Fire
إِلَّا
except
مَلَٰٓئِكَةٗۖ
Angels
وَمَا
And not
جَعَلۡنَا
We have made
عِدَّتَهُمۡ
their number
إِلَّا
except
فِتۡنَةٗ
(as) a trial
لِّلَّذِينَ
for those who
كَفَرُواْ
disbelieve
لِيَسۡتَيۡقِنَ
that may be certain
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
أُوتُواْ
were given
ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ
the Scripture
وَيَزۡدَادَ
and may increase
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
ءَامَنُوٓاْ
believe
إِيمَٰنٗا
(in) faith
وَلَا
and not
يَرۡتَابَ
may doubt
ٱلَّذِينَ
those who
أُوتُواْ
were given
ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ
the Scripture
وَٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ
and the believers
وَلِيَقُولَ
and that may say
ٱلَّذِينَ
those
فِي
in
قُلُوبِهِم
their hearts
مَّرَضٞ
(is) a disease
وَٱلۡكَٰفِرُونَ
and the disbelievers
مَاذَآ
What
أَرَادَ
(does) intend
ٱللَّهُ
Allah
بِهَٰذَا
by this
مَثَلٗاۚ
example
كَذَٰلِكَ
Thus
يُضِلُّ
does let go astray
ٱللَّهُ
Allah
مَن
whom
يَشَآءُ
He wills
وَيَهۡدِي
and guides
مَن
whom
يَشَآءُۚ
He wills
وَمَا
And none
يَعۡلَمُ
knows
جُنُودَ
(the) hosts
رَبِّكَ
(of) your Lord
إِلَّا
except
هُوَۚ
Him
وَمَا
And not
هِيَ
it
إِلَّا
(is) but
ذِكۡرَىٰ
a reminder
لِلۡبَشَرِ
to (the) human beings
Translation
And We have set none but angels as Guardians of the Fire; and We have fixed their number only as a trial for Unbelievers,- in order that the People of the Book may arrive at certainty, and the Believers may increase in Faith,- and that no doubts may be left for the People of the Book and the Believers, and that those in whose hearts is a disease and the Unbelievers may say, "What symbol doth Allah intend by this?" Thus doth Allah leave to stray whom He pleaseth, and guide whom He pleaseth: and none can know the forces of thy Lord, except He and this is no other than a warning to mankind.
Tafsir
And We have appointed only angels as wardens of the Hellfire, in other words, and so they cannot be withstood as these [disbelievers are wont to] imagine; and We have made their number, so, only as a stumbling-block, a cause for error, for those who disbelieve, when they then say, 'Why are there nineteen of them?', so that those who were given the Scripture, namely, the Jews, may be certain, of the sincerity of the Prophet may peace and salutation be upon him in [saying that] they are nineteen, for this concords with what is in their Scripture; and that those who believe, from among the People of the Scripture, may increase in faith, in affirmation of the truth, given that what the Prophet may peace and salutation be upon him has said concords with what is in their Scripture, and that those given the Scripture and the believers, [those] other than these [Jews], may not be in doubt, concerning the number of [these] angels, and that those in whose hearts there is a sickness, an uncertainty, [those] in Medina, and the disbelievers, in Mecca, may say, 'What did God mean by this, number [as a], similitude?' (mathalan: they referred to it thus [as a mathal] on account of it being a curious matter; in terms of syntax, it [mathalan] is a circumstantial qualifier). Thus, that is, just as the one who rejects this number is led astray and the one who affirms the truth of it is guided, God leads astray whom He will and guides whom He will. And none knows the hosts of your Lord, namely, the angels, [none knows them] in terms of their strength and their assistants, except Him. And it, that is, Saqar, is nothing but a reminder for humans.
The Number of Guardians of Hell and what the Disbelievers said about that
Allah says,
وَمَا جَعَلۡنَا أَصۡحَابَ النَّارِ
And We have set none as (Ashab) guardians of the Fire,
meaning, its guardians.
إِلاَّ مَلَيِكَةً
but angels.
Guardian angels, stern and severe.
This is a refutation of the idolators of the Quraysh when they mentioned the number of guardian angels. Abu Jahl said,
O people of Quraysh! Are not every ten among you able to defeat one of them
So Allah said,
وَمَا جَعَلۡنَا أَصۡحَابَ النَّارِ
إِلاَّ مَلَيِكَة
And We have set none but angels as guardians of the Fire.
meaning, extremely strong in their creation. They cannot be stood against nor defeated.
It has been said that Abu Al-Ashaddayn, and his name was Kaladah bin Usayd bin Khalaf, said,
O people of Quraysh! You defend me against two of them and I will defend you against seventeen of them.
He said this thinking himself to be very great. For they claimed that he achieved such strength that he would stand on a skin of cow hide and ten people would try to pull it out from under his feet, but the skin would be torn to pieces and still not be removed from under him.
Concerning Allah's statement,
وَمَا جَعَلۡنَا عِدَّتَهُمۡ إِلاَّ فِتۡنَةً لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا
And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers,
meaning, `We only have mentioned their number as being nineteen as a test from Us for mankind.'
لِيَسۡتَيۡقِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الۡكِتَابَ
In order that the People of the Scripture may arrive at a certainty,
meaning, so that they may know that this Messenger is true. For he speaks according to the same thing that they have with them of heavenly revealed Scriptures that came to the Prophets before him.
Concerning Allah's statement,
وَيَزۡدَادَ الَّذِينَ امَنُوا إِيمَانًا
and that the believers may increase in faith.
meaning, to their faith. This is due to what they witness from the truthfulness of the information of their Prophet, Muhammad.
وَلَا يَرۡتَابَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الۡكِتَابَ وَالۡمُوۡمِنُونَ
وَلِيَقُولَ الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ
and that no doubt may be left for the People of the Scripture and the believers, and that those in whose hearts is a disease,
meaning, among the hypocrites.
وَالۡكَافِرُونَ مَاذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِهَذَا مَثَلًا
and the disbelievers may say:What does Allah intend by this example
meaning, they say, What is the wisdom in mentioning this here
Allah says,
كَذَلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللَّهُ مَن يَشَاء وَيَهۡدِي مَن يَشَاء
Thus Allah leads astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills.
meaning, by way of examples like this, faith becomes firm in the hearts of some people and it is shaken with others.
This has a profound wisdom and it is an irrefutable proof. None knows the Soldiers of Allah except Him.
Allah says,
وَمَا يَعۡلَمُ جُنُودَ رَبِّكَ إِلاَّ هُو
And none can know the hosts of your Lord but He.
meaning, none knows their number and their count except Allah.
This is so that one does not make the mistake of thinking that they are only nineteen in all. It has been confirmed in the Hadith concerning Al-Isra' that is reported in the Two Sahihs and other collections, that the Messenger of Allah said in describing the Frequented House (Al-Bayt Al-Ma`mur), which is in the seventh heaven,
فَإِذَا هُوَ يَدۡخُلُهُ فِي كُلِّ يَوۡمٍ سَبۡعُونَ أَلۡفَ مَلَكٍ لَاإ يَعُودُونَ إِلَيۡهِ اخِرَ مَا عَلَيۡهِم
Seventy thousand angels enter into it every day and they do not return to it as it is all that is due upon them (one visit in their lifetime).
Concerning Allah's statement,
وَمَا هِيَ إِلاَّ ذِكۡرَى لِلۡبَشَرِ
And this is nothing but a reminder to mankind.
Mujahid and others said,
وَمَا هِيَ
And this is not.
This means the Hellfire which has been described.
إِلاَّ ذِكۡرَى لِلۡبَشَرِ
but a reminder to mankind.
Then Allah says,
كَلَّ وَالۡقَمَرِ
وَاللَّيۡلِ إِذۡ أَدۡبَرَ
Nay! And by the moon. And by the night when it withdraws.
meaning, when it withdraws.
وَالصُّبۡحِ إِذَا أَسۡفَرَ
And by the dawn when it brightens.
meaning, when it shines.
إِنَّهَا لَاِحۡدَى الۡكُبَرِ
Verily, it is but one of the greatest (signs).
meaning, the great things. This refers to the Hellfire.
Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak and others of the Salaf, all said this.
نَذِيرًا لِّلۡبَشَرِ
لِمَن شَاء مِنكُمۡ أَن يَتَقَدَّمَ أَوۡ يَتَأَخَّرَ
A warning to mankind -- to any of you that chooses to go forward, or to remain behind.
meaning, for whoever wishes to accept the warning and be guided to the truth, or hold back from accepting it, turn away from it and reject it.
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