29. Ibn `Abbas is reported to have said that if a drop of Zaqqum was dropped on the earth, it would turn everything rancid (Ibn Jarir). Thanwi narrates that some people, Indians but residing in Makkah, told him that there the Arabs ate a fruit from a tree called Zaqqum. The fruit was called Barshumi. But the Qur’an says that it is the fruit of the inhabitants of the Fire! How could he reconcile, he was asked. He explained to them that, firstly, a coincidence in names does not indicate the edibility of the fruit, and, secondly, the Qur’an did not say they will eat Zaqqum, but that they will eat its tree.

30. Zamakhshari reports that `Abdullah ibn Mas`ud was teaching someone the Qur’an. When he said, “Ta`amul athimi” the man would say, “ta`amul fatimi.” After a few trials Ibn Mas`ud told him, “Say, ‘ta`amul fajiri.’” The man was able to say, “ta`amul fajiri.” So Ibn Mas`ud said, “Alright, let it be ‘Ta`amul fajiri’ for you.” This shows that a word of the Qur’an can be (temporarily) replaced with another word equivalent in meaning if someone is unable to pronounce the original. This led Abu Hanifah to allow recitation in Persian on condition that the reader suppliments the exact equivalent of Qur’anic words without causing any distortion to the original. The scholars have said, adds Zamakhshari, the condition he placed meant that it was permitted but in truth not permitted since the Qur’an is at the peak of coherence, beauty, rhetoric, eloquence and balagha, which render it impossible to convert it to another language. Further, Imam Abu Hanifah did not know Persian well enough (to know the drawbacks). However, `Ali b. Ja`d reports Abu Yusuf regarding Abu Hanifah’s change in opinion regarding Qur’anic rendition into Persian. His two immediate pupils also believed that the Qur’an could not be rendered into Persian. Imam Razi quotes Zamakhshari’s text but says he rejects the argument, which he has discussed in detail in one of his books. Qurtubi also quotes Zamakhshari but without passing any remark. Alusi however does not accept that Abu Haneefah had ever allowed recitation of the Qur’an in Persian, quoting in this reference a research paper by one Sharambilali.

31. That is, pour on his head the instrument of torment: boiled water (Zamakhshari).

32. Although general, Abu Jahl was considered by many as the most deserving of this punishment because when at one time the Prophet spoke to him he remarked that he was nobler than that he should be threatened with any punishment (Ibn Jarir, Zamakhshari, Razi, Qurtubi). The fuller report is in Ibn Kathir and Shawkani: Umawi has recorded in his “Maghazi” that the Prophet met Abu Jahl, on whom be Allah’s curse, and told him, “I have been asked by Allah to tell you: ‘Woe to you and then woe. Then, woe to you and woe.’” He removed his cloak from his hand and replied, “Neither you nor your Companion (meaning Allah) have any power over me. You know very well that I am the most protected of the inhabitants of Bat-ha (valley). And I am mighty and noble.” So Allah destroyed him at Badr, and humiliated him, blamed him for his words and revealed, “Taste, you are indeed the mighty, the noble.”

33. Anas is reported to have said (while the words are sometimes attributed to the Prophet) that if a Hawra’ (sing.: Hur, meaning: a woman of a dark pupil with white background: Alusi) were to spit in a bitter ocean, its water would turn sweet (Ibn Kathir). But the authenticity of the report could not be established (Au.). The opinion to which most scholars subscribe is that Huris are not women of this world.

34. The allusion is to the death they experienced in their life on earth (Qurtubi and others). Reports say that the Prophet was asked whether the inhabitants of Paradise will sleep. He answered, “No! Sleep is death’s sister” (Ibn Kathir). There are several reports to this effect but only the one in Bazzar was declared trustworthy by Haythami (Sami b. M.S.). A report in Tabarani’s Awsat says,

يُنَادِى مُنَادٍ إِنَّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَصِحُّوا فَلاَ تَسْقَمُوا أَبَدًا وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَحْيَوْا فَلاَ تَمُوتُوا أَبَدًا وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَشِبُّوا فَلاَ تَهْرَمُوا أَبَدًا وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَنْعَمُوا فَلاَ تَبْتَئِسُوا أَبَدًا

"An announcer will announce (in Paradise), ‘That you will be in good health and never ill, that you should remain alive and never die, that you should remain young and never get old, and that you should be in luxury therein and will never be miserable’” (Ibn Kathir). Ibn Kathir quoted a hadith of Tabarani about which Haythami was somewhat skeptic, we have therefore, picked up one from Muslim of roughly the same meaning (Au.).

35. “As a bounty from your Lord”: because none will enter Paradise on the strength of his deeds alone, as Sahih ahadith clarify (Razi, Ibn Kathir).

36. These words conceal both a threat as well as promise. Allah said elsewhere (Ghafir: 51, 52):

{إِنَّا لَنَنْصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ الْأَشْهَادُ (51) يَوْمَ لَا يَنْفَعُ الظَّالِمِينَ مَعْذِرَتُهُمْ وَلَهُمُ اللَّعْنَةُ وَلَهُمْ سُوءُ الدَّارِ} [غافر: 51، 52]

“Surely We help Our Messengers and those who believe in the life of this world and on the Day when the witnesses will stand forth. The Day, when their excuses will not profit the wrongdoers. For them is the curse and for them the evil abode” (Ibn Kathir).