23:110 Al-Muminoon (The Believers)

فهؤلاء سادات الناس وفضلائهم، { فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ } أيها الكفرة الأنذال ناقصو العقول والأحلام { سِخْرِيًّا } تهزءون بهم وتحتقرونهم، حتى اشتغلتم بذلك السفه. { حَتَّى أَنْسَوْكُمْ ذِكْرِي وَكُنْتُمْ مِنْهُمْ تَضْحَكُونَ } وهذا الذي أوجب لهم نسيان الذكر، اشتغالهم بالاستهزاء بهم، كما أن نسيانهم للذكر، يحثهم على الاستهزاء، فكل من الأمرين يمد الآخر، فهل فوق هذه الجراءة جراءة؟!

فاتخذتموهم سخريا " أي فسخرتم منهم في دعائهم إياي وتضرعهم إلي " حتى أنسوكم ذكري " أي حملكم بغضهم علي أن نسيتم معاملتي " وكنتم منهم تضحكون " أي من صنيعهم وعبادتهم كما قال تعالى " إن الذين أجرموا كانوا من الذين آمنوا يضحكون وإذا مروا بهم يتغامزون " أي يلمزونهم استهزاء ثم أخبر تعالى عما جازى به أولياءه وعباده الصالحين.

Allah's Response and Rejection of the Disbelievers

This is the response of Allah to the disbelievers when they ask Him to bring them out of the Fire and send them back to this world. He will say:

اخْسَئُواْ فِيهَا

(Remain you in it with ignominy!) meaning, abide therein, humiliated, despised and scorned.

وَلاَ تُكَلِّمُونِ

(And speak you not to Me!) means, `do not ask for this again, for I will not respond to you. Al-`Awfi reported from Ibn `Abbas concerning this Ayah,

اخْسَئُواْ فِيهَا وَلاَ تُكَلِّمُونِ

(Remain you in it with ignominy! And speak you not to Me!) "These are the words of Ar-Rahman when silencing them." Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that `Abdullah bin `Amr said, "The people of Hell will call on Malik for forty years, and he will not answer them. Then he will respond and tell them that they are to abide therein. By Allah, their cries will mean nothing to Malik or to the Lord of Malik. Then they will call on their Lord and will say,

قَالُواْ رَبَّنَا غَلَبَتْ عَلَيْنَا شِقْوَتُنَا وَكُنَّا قَوْماً ضَآلِّينَ - رَبَّنَآ أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْهَا فَإِنْ عُدْنَا فَإِنَّا ظَـلِمُونَ

(Our Lord! Our wretchedness overcame us, and we were (an) erring people. Our Lord! Bring us out of this. If ever we return (to evil), then indeed we shall be wrongdoers.) 23:106-107 Allah will not answer them for a time span equivalent to twice the duration of this world. Then He will reply:

اخْسَئُواْ فِيهَا وَلاَ تُكَلِّمُونِ

(Remain you in it with ignominy! And speak you not to Me!) By Allah, the people will not utter a single word after that, and they will merely be in the Fire of Hell, sighing in a high and low tone. Their voices are likened to those of donkeys, which start in a high tone and end in a low tone." Then Allah will remind them of their sins in this world and how they used to make fun of His believing servants and close friends:

إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِى يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَآ ءَامَنَّا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الرَحِمِينَ فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ سِخْرِيّاً

(Verily, there was a party of My servants who used to say: "Our Lord! We believe, so forgive us and have mercy on us, for You are the Best of all who show mercy!" But you took them for a laughing stock,) meaning, `you made fun of them for calling on Me and praying to Me,'

حَتَّى أَنسَوْكُمْ ذِكْرِى

(so much so that they made you forget My remembrance) means, your hatred for them made you forget what I would do to you.

وَكُنْتُمْ مِّنْهُمْ تَضْحَكُونَ

(while you used to laugh at them!) means, at their deeds and worship. This is like the Ayah:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ أَجْرَمُواْ كَانُواْ مِنَ الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ يَضْحَكُونَ - وَإِذَا مَرُّواْ بِهِمْ يَتَغَامَزُونَ

(Verily, those who committed crimes used to laugh at those who believed. And, whenever they passed by them, used to wink one to another.) 83:29-30 meaning, they used to slander them in mockery. Then Allah tells us how He will reward His friends and righteous servants, and says:

إِنِّى جَزَيْتُهُمُ الْيَوْمَ بِمَا صَبَرُواْ

(Verily, I have rewarded them this Day for their patience;) meaning, `for the harm and mockery that you inflicted on them,

أَنَّهُمْ هُمُ الْفَآئِزُونَ

(they are indeed the ones that are successful.) I have caused them to attain the victory of joy, safety, Paradise and salvation from the Fire.'

But then you took them as an object of ridicule read sukhriyyan or sikhriyyan a verbal noun meaning ‘mockery’. Among those ridiculed were Bilāl al-Habashī Suhayb al-Rūmī ‘Ammār b. Yāsir and Salmān al-Fārisī; until they made you forget My remembrance which you disregarded as you were engaged in deriding them. Thus these men were the cause of the forgetting which is why this act has been attributed to them and you used to laugh at them.

وَلَا تُكَلِّمُونِ (Do not speak to Me - 23:108). According to Hasan al-Basri (رح) these will be the last words of the people who are cast in hell and in reply Allah will say, "Do not speak to Me." After this they will not be able to speak like human beings, but will make animal sounds to each other. Baihaqi and others have quoted Muhammad Ibn Ka` b as saying that the Qur'an mentions five requests made by the people condemned to hell. Out of the five, replies were furnished to four, but in reply to the fifth Allah commanded them not to speak to Him. Thus these are the last words to be uttered by them after which they will not be able to speak. (Mazhari)