هٰذٰنِ These two خَصْمٰنِ opponents اخْتَصَمُوْا dispute فِیْ concerning رَبِّهِمْ ؗ their Lord فَالَّذِیْنَ But those who كَفَرُوْا disbelieved قُطِّعَتْ will be cut out لَهُمْ for them ثِیَابٌ garments مِّنْ of نَّارٍ ؕ fire یُصَبُّ Will be poured مِنْ over فَوْقِ over رُءُوْسِهِمُ their heads الْحَمِیْمُۚ [the] scalding water یُصْهَرُ Will be melted بِهٖ with it مَا what فِیْ (is) in بُطُوْنِهِمْ their bellies وَ الْجُلُوْدُؕ and the skins وَ لَهُمْ And for them مَّقَامِعُ (are) hooked rods مِنْ of حَدِیْدٍ iron كُلَّمَاۤ Every time اَرَادُوْۤا they want اَنْ to یَّخْرُجُوْا come out مِنْهَا from it مِنْ from غَمٍّ anguish اُعِیْدُوْا they will be returned فِیْهَا ۗ therein وَ ذُوْقُوْا Taste عَذَابَ (the) punishment الْحَرِیْقِ۠ (of) the Burning Fire!
(22:19) These two groups (the believers and unbelievers) are in dispute about their Lord.36 As for those that disbelieve, garments of fire have been cut out for them;37 boiling water shall be poured down over their heads,
(22:20) causing (not only) their skins but all that is in their bellies as well to melt away.
(22:21) There shall be maces of iron to lash them.
(22:22) Whenever they try, in their anguish, to escape from Hell, they will be driven back into it, (and shall be told): "Now taste the torment of burning."
36. The groups that contend about God are very many. Nevertheless, the present verse divides them into two broad categories. One consists of those who accept the teachings of the Prophets and adopt the right attitude in serving God. The other consists of those who do not accept the teachings of the Prophets, reject the truth, and embrace unbelief. The essence of this latter attitude remains one and the same no matter how numerous the disagreements among the exponents of such an attitude are, or the extent to which the different versions of unbelief vary from one to another.
37. Here, something which is inevitably bound to happen in the future has been described in the past tense. This in order to emphasize its inevitability; to give the impression as if it is something that has already taken place. As for the expression ‘garments made out of fire’, this seems possibly to refer to the same thing mentioned in Sarah Ibrahim 14: 49-50. (The verse mentions that the guilty ones shall be ‘secured in chains’, and ‘their garments shall be black as if made out of pitch, and the flames of the fire shall cover their faces...’ - Ed.) For further explanation, see Towards Understanding the Qur’an, vol. IV, Ibrahim 14, n. 58, p. 277.