8:50 Al-Anfaal (The Spoils of War)

يقول تعالى‏:‏ ولو ترى الذين كفروا بآيات اللّه حين توفاهم الملائكة الموكلون بقبض أرواحهم وقد اشتد بهم القلق وعظم كربهم، و‏{‏الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَضْرِبُونَ وُجُوهَهُمْ وَأَدْبَارَهُمْ‏}‏ يقولون لهم‏:‏ أخرجوا أنفسكم، ونفوسهم متمنعة مستعصية على الخروج، لعلمها ما أمامها من العذاب الأليم‏.‏ ولهذا قال‏:‏ ‏{‏وَذُوقُوا عَذَابَ الْحَرِيق أي‏:‏ العذاب الشديد المحرق

يقول تعالى ولو عاينت يا محمد حال توفي الملائكة أرواح الكفار لرأيت أمرا عظيما هائلا فظيعا منكرا "إذ يضربون وجوههم وأدبارهم ويقولون لهم ذوقوا عذاب الحريق" قال ابن جريج عن مجاهد "أدبارهم" أستاههم قال يوم بدر قال ابن جريج قال ابن عباس إذا أقبل المشركون بوجوههم إلى المسـلمين ضربوا وجوههم بالسيوف وإذا ولوا أدركتهم الملائكة يضربون أدبارهم وقال ابن أبي نجيح عن مجاهد في قوله "إذ يتوفى الذين كفروا الملائكة يضربون وجوههم وأدبارهم" يوم بدر وقال وكيع عن سفيان الثوري عن أبي هاشم إسماعيل بن كثير عن مجاهد وعن شعبة عن يعلى بن مسلم عن سعيد بن جبير يضربون وجوههم وأدبارهم قال وأستاههم ولكن الله يكنى وكذا قال عمر مولى عفرة. وعن الحسن البصري قال: قال رجل يا رسول الله: إني رأيت بظهر أبي جهل مثل الشوك قال "ذاك ضرب الملائكة". رواه ابن جرير وهو مرسل وهذا السياق وإن كان سببه وقعة بدر ولكنه عام في حق كل كافر ولهذا لم يخصصه تعالى بأهل بدر بل قال تعالى "ولو ترى إذ يتوفى الذين كفروا الملائكة يضربون وجوههم وأدبارهم" وفي سورة القتال مثلها وتقدم في سورة الأنعام قوله تعالى "ولو ترى إذ المجرمون في غمرات الموت والملائكة باسطوا أيديهم أخرجوا أنفسكم" أي باسـطوا أيديهم بالضرب فيهم بأمر ربهم إذ استصعبت أنفسهم وامتنعت من الخروج من الأجساد أن تخرج قهرا وذلك إذا بشروهم بالعذاب والغضب من الله كما في حديث البراء أن ملك الموت إذا جاء الكافر عند احتضاره في تلك الصورة المنكرة يقول: اخرجي أيتها النفس الخبيثة إلى سموم وحميم وظل من يحموم فتفرق في بدنه فيستخرجونها من جسده كما يخرج السفود من الصوف المبلول فتخرج معها العروق والعصب ولهذا أخبر تعالى أن الملائكة تقول لهم ذوقوا عذاب الحريق.

The Angels smite the Disbelievers upon capturing Their Souls

Allah says, if you witnessed the angels capturing the souls of the disbelievers, you would witness a tremendous, terrible, momentous and awful matter,

يَضْرِبُونَ وُجُوهَهُمْ وَأَدْبَـرَهُمْ

(they smite their faces and their backs), saying to them,

وَذُوقُواْ عَذَابَ الْحَرِيقِ

("Taste the punishment of the blazing Fire.")

Ibn Jurayj said that Mujahid said that,

وَأَدْبَـرَهُمْ

(and their backs), refers to their back sides, as happened on the day of Badr. Ibn Jurayj also reported from Ibn `Abbas, "When the idolators faced the Muslims in Badr, the Muslims smote their faces with swords. When they gave flight, the angels smote their rear ends."

Although these Ayat are describing Badr, they are general in the case of every disbeliever. This is why Allah did not make His statement here restrictive to the disbelievers at Badr,

وَلَوْ تَرَى إِذْ يَتَوَفَّى الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ الْمَلَـئِكَةُ يَضْرِبُونَ وُجُوهَهُمْ وَأَدْبَـرَهُمْ

(And if you could see when the angels take away the souls of those who disbelieve (at death); they smite their faces and their backs,)

In Surat Al-Qital (or Muhammad chapter 47) there is a similar Ayah, as well as in Surat Al-An`am,

وَلَوْ تَرَى إِذِ الظَّـلِمُونَ فِى غَمَرَاتِ الْمَوْتِ وَالْمَلَـئِكَةُ بَاسِطُواْ أَيْدِيهِمْ أَخْرِجُواْ أَنفُسَكُمُ

(And if you could but see when the wrongdoers are in the agonies of death, while the angels are stretching forth their hands (saying): "Deliver your souls!") 6:93

The angels stretch their hands and smite the disbelievers by Allah's command, since their souls refuse to leave their bodies, so they are taken out by force. This occurs when the angels give them the news of torment and Allah's anger. There is a Hadith narrated from Al-Bara' that when the angel of death attends the disbeliever at the time of death, he comes to him in a terrifying and disgusting shape, saying, "Get out, O wicked soul, to fierce hot wind, boiling water and a shadow of black smoke." The disbeliever's soul then scatters throughout his body, but the angels retrieve it, just as a needle is retrieved from wet wool. In this case, veins and nerve cells will be still attached to the soul. Allah states here that angels bring news of the torment of the Fire to the disbelievers. Allah said next,

ذلِكَ بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ

(This is because of that which your hands forwarded.) meaning, this punishment is the recompense of the evil deeds that you have committed in the life of the world. This is your reckoning from Allah for your deeds,

وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ لَيْسَ بِظَلَّـمٍ لِّلْعَبِيدِ

a(And verily, Allah is not unjust to His servants.)

Certainly, Allah does not wrong any of His creatures, for He is the Just, who never puts anything in an inappropriate place. Honored, Glorified, Exalted and Praised be He, the All-Rich, Worthy of all praise. Muslim recorded that Abu Dharr said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said;

«إنَّ اللهَ تَعَالَى يَقُولُ: يَا عِبَادِي إِنِّي حَرَّمْتُ الظُّلْمَ عَلَى نَفْسِي وَجَعَلْتُهُ بَيْنَكُمْ مُحَرَّمًا فَلَا تَظَالَمُوا، يَا عِبَادِي إِنَّمَا هِيَ أَعْمَالُكُمْ أُحْصِيهَا لَكُمْ فَمَنْ وَجَدَ خَيْرًا فَلْيَحْمَدِ اللهَ وَمَنْ وَجَدَ غَيْرَ ذَلِكَ فَلَا يَلُومَنَّ إِلَّا نَفْسَه»

(Allah, the Exalted, said, `O My servants! I have prohibited injustice for Myself, and made it prohibited to you between each other. Therefore, do not commit injustice against each other. O My servants! It is your deeds that I am keeping count of, so whoever found something good, let him praise Allah for it. Whoever found other than that, has only himself to blame.)

This is why Allah said,

And if you could only see O Muhammad (s) when the angels take read either as yatawaffā or tatawaffā the disbelievers beating yadribūna is a circumstantial qualifier their faces and their backs with hooked iron rods and they say to them ‘Taste the chastisement of burning that is the Fire the response to the clause beginning with law ‘if’ would be la-ra’ayta amran ‘azīman ‘you would truly have seen an terrible sight’.

Commentary

Mentioned in the first two of the verses cited above is the punishment of disbelievers at the time of their death and the warnings given to them by the angels. Here, addressing the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، it has been said that had he seen the condition of the disbelievers at that time when the angels of Allah were beating their faces and backs as they extracted their souls and telling them to have a taste of the punishment of burning in the Fire, then, he would have seen some-thing awesome.

Some of the leading Commentators have declared this statement to be about the particular disbelievers from among the Quraysh who had come out to confront Muslims at the site of Badr where Allah Ta` ala had sent an army of angels to help Muslims. Thus, the meaning comes to be that the Quraysh chiefs who were killed in the battle of Badr were killed at the hands of the angels who were hitting them from the front on their faces and from the rear on their backs and were killing them in this manner while giving them the dark tidings of the punishment of Hell in the Hereafter.

Then, there are other Commentators who have kept the sense of this verse general in view of the generality of the words used in it. According to them, the verse means: When a disbeliever dies, the angel of death beats his face and back while taking out his soul. In some narrations, it appears that they have lashes of fire and maces of iron in their hands which they use to strike at the disbeliever condemned to death. But, as this punishment is not related to this world of elements, rather, is related to the universe of the grave which is known as Barzakh بَرزَخ (the post-death---pre-ressurrection state), therefore, this punishment is not generally seen optically.

Therefore, the modality used to address the Holy Prophet ﷺ was: 'And only if you were to see,' you would have seen a scene full of sobering lessons. This tells us that, after death, punishment is given to disbelievers while they are in the state of Barzakh, but that phenomenon is related to the universe of the Unseen کلام الغیب (` clam al-ghayb), therefore, it is not seen usually. The punishment of the grave finds mention in several other verses of the Holy Qur'an as well, while Hadith narrations on this subject just abound.

Wert thou to see when the angels take those who disbelieve, beating their faces and their backs: " Taste the chastisement of the burning! " Death is of four sorts: the death of degradation and the curse, the death of remorse and affliction, the death of the gift and generosity, and the death of honor and contemplation. The death of the curse is the death of the unbelievers, the death of remorse is the death of the disobedient, the death of generosity is the death of the faithful, and the death of contemplation is the death of the prophets. About the death of the curse He says, " Wert thou to see when the angels take those who disbe- lieve. " In another place He says, " Wert thou to see when the wrongdoers are in the throes of death... [6:93]. O master! If only you were to see the unbelievers in the agonies of death and the blows and strikes of the chastising angels, before whose harshness, awesomeness, and fearsomeness heaven and earth tremble-the unbelievers caught amidst smoke, fire, unpleasant smells, and the striking of the angels, their hearts overcome by severance from possessions. If they complain, the pain increases, and if they weep, the call no good news [25:22] comes to them. The dust of unworthiness sits on their face, the fire of severance falls into their spirit, hell is filled with their moaning, and the angels disown them. Beware of the severity of severance! Beware of the wound of separation! " As for the death of remorse, that is the death of the disobedient, who passed their days in heedlessness and fell short in the acts of obedience and worship. Suddenly they fall into the grasp of the angel of death and are caught by death's agonies. On one side they see the angel of mercy, but they are ashamed because they did little good. On the other side they see the angel of chastise- ment, and they fear because they did bad and ugly things. The hapless, disobedient servant stays in the middle, his eyes toward the Unseen to see what will come. Will generosity or degradation come from there? Will he see bounty or justice? Then the angels present his obedience and dis- obedience to him, his obedience being little, his disrespect great.