Read · 8 min · Optional
What the classical commentators say about these eight ayat. Take this one if you want to go deeper.
The passage is a set of calls: the people of Paradise to the people of the Fire (44–45), the men on the heights to both (46–49), and the people of the Fire for water (50–51). The units follow Ibn Kathir’s four comments.
Ayat 44–45 — The question across the partition
The people of Paradise ask the people of the Fire whether they found their Lord’s promise true, and they say yes. A caller announces Allah’s curse on the wrongdoers: those who barred people from Allah’s way, wanted it crooked, and denied the Hereafter.
Source summary: Ibn Kathir says the people of the Fire will be “addressed, chastised and admonished” when they take their places. He compares 37:55–57, where a believer sees his old companion in the Fire, and the Prophet’s ﷺ words at the well of Badr, which ask the same question (a version is optional on the hadith page). On ayah 45: they kept people from Allah’s path, tried to make it look crooked, and did not believe in the meeting with Allah, so they feared no reckoning.
Source summary: Al-Jalalayn says the people of Paradise call “either in affirmation or in reprimand”, and the crier proclaims “between both parties making them hear”.
Optional source note — al-Tabari and al-Qurtubi on the call
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Al-Tabari says the people of Paradise call out after they have entered it. They found true what their Lord promised them in the world on the tongues of His messengers, and they ask whether the people of the Fire found true the punishment they were promised. He does not say who the caller is. On ayah 45 he says the wrongdoers tried to change Allah’s religion from the straightness He gave it. ʿIwaj, with an i, is a bend in a religion or a road; ʿawaj, with an a, is for something crooked in a body, like a leg.
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Al-Qurtubi calls it a question of rebuke and reproach. Of the four, he is the only one who names the caller: one of the angels. He also notes that naʿam, “yes”, answers a question asked in the positive, as here, while balā answers one asked in the negative, as in 7:172: “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yes.”
Facilitator guidance
For the facilitator: The Badr narration goes on to a question the Companions themselves answered differently: whether the dead hear. The Facilitator guide has that, and a short answer if a guest asks who ayat 44–45 are about.
Reflection: Both groups were given a promise, and on that Day both find it true. The people of Paradise had believed it before they saw it.
Ayat 46–47 — The men on the heights
On the heights of the partition are men who know both groups by their marks. They greet the people of Paradise, hope to enter, and ask Allah not to place them with the wrongdoers.
Source summary: Ibn Kathir says the partition is a barrier that keeps the people of the Fire from Paradise. Through al-Tabari he gives it as the wall of 57:13: “And a wall will be placed between them with a door, its interior containing mercy, but on the outside of it is torment” (57:13, Saheeh International). Aʿrāf is the plural of ʿurf, any raised piece of ground, and al-Suddi says the place is named for its people, who recognise, yaʿrifūn, everyone.
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Who the men are is where the commentators differ. Al-Tabari and al-Qurtubi report these views, among others:
- People whose good and bad deeds came out equal, held there until Allah decides, then admitted by His mercy. This view has the most names behind it: Hudhayfa, Ibn ʿAbbas and Ibn Masʿud, then al-Shaʿbi, al-Dahhak and Saʿid ibn Jubayr. Ibn Kathir and al-Jalalayn give only this one.
- Righteous people of knowledge and fiqh (Mujahid).
- The martyrs (recorded by al-Mahdawi), or the best of the believers with the martyrs (recorded by al-Qushayri).
- Just witnesses who testify about people’s deeds, in every nation (al-Zahrawi). Al-Nahhas counts this among the best that has been said.
- Prophets (al-Zajjaj).
- Angels (Abu Mijlaz). Al-Tabari rejects this, because rijāl, men, means male human beings.
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Neither of them settles it. Al-Tabari says the right thing to say is what Allah said, men who know each group by its mark, because there is no report from the Prophet ﷺ about them with a sound chain and no agreed interpretation. Al-Qurtubi gives ten views, then quotes Ibn ʿAtiyya: all the ayah itself requires is men from the people of Paradise whose entry is delayed. Al-Qurtubi adds that this stops short of naming them, because the reports are confused.
Source summary: On their hope, Ibn Kathir reports al-Hasan: “By Allah! Allah did not put this hope in their hearts, except for an honor that He intends to bestow on them.” On ayah 47 he reports Ibn ʿAbbas: they make this du'a when they see and recognise the people of the Fire.
Optional source note — the full lists, and the Companions’ words
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Al-Tabari groups the views into four: equal deeds; men killed in Allah’s way who had gone out against their fathers’ wishes (Shurahbil ibn Saʿd); righteous scholars (Mujahid); and angels (Abu Mijlaz). Al-Qurtubi’s longer list adds, among others, people with small sins that were not wiped out in this world, held back so that the distress of waiting answers for them.
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Al-Tabari records Hudhayfa’s words on them: while they are there, your Lord looks at them and says, go and enter Paradise, for I have forgiven you. Al-Hakim records the same from Hudhayfa. Al-Tabari also records Ibn ʿAbbas saying that they will enter it, in shāʾ Allāh. These are the Companions’ words in the tafsir, not narrations from the Prophet ﷺ.
Paraphrase from the Arabic: The marks, says al-Tabari, are white faces for the people of Paradise and black faces for the people of the Fire. He takes sīmā from the root w-s-m, a mark; the Quranic Arabic Corpus lists it under s-w-m.
Optional source note — whose hope, and the du'a in humility
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Most of the early commentators al-Tabari reports read the end of ayah 46, not yet entered and hoping, as about the men on the heights: al-Suddi, al-Hasan, Qatada, ʿIkrima and ʿAta’. Abu Mijlaz reads it as about the people of Paradise, greeted before they go in. Al-Qurtubi adds al-Nahhas’s point that yaṭmaʿūn can also mean “they know” they will enter.
Paraphrase from the Arabic: On ayah 47, al-Qurtubi says they ask not to be placed with the wrongdoers in humility, as believers ask, “Our Lord, perfect for us our light” (66:8). He also says the word “men” in ayah 46 comes as praise, as in 24:37.
Facilitator guidance
For the facilitator: The discussion does not ask anyone to choose a view; the views are background for the question about hope. Some reports about these men are said to come from the Prophet ﷺ with weak chains. They are not on these pages, and the notes page lists the ones participants may bring.
Reflection: The men on the heights are not yet where they hope to be. What they do while they wait is greet others with peace and ask Allah to keep them from the wrongdoers.
Ayat 48–49 — “Are these the ones…?”
The men on the heights tell men they know in the Fire that their gathering and their arrogance did not help them. Then comes a question about people those men had looked down on, and the words “Enter Paradise.”
Source summary: Ibn Kathir reads “your gathering” as “your great numbers”: your numbers and wealth did not save you from Allah’s punishment. He reports from Ibn ʿAbbas that “Are these the ones…” refers to the people of al-Aʿrāf, who will be told, when Allah decrees, to enter Paradise.
Source summary: Al-Jalalayn has the men on the heights speaking, pointing to “those formerly oppressed Muslims”.
Optional source note — who speaks in ayah 49
Paraphrase from the Arabic: The commentators read ayah 49 in four ways. Allah speaks to the people of the Fire, and “these” are the people of al-Aʿrāf, whom al-Suddi calls the weak (Ibn ʿAbbas, through several chains; al-Tabari sets out the ayah on this reading). The men on the heights speak, pointing to poor believers such as Bilal, Salman and Khabbab (al-Qurtubi, from al-Hasan). The angels speak to the people of the Fire about the believers (Abu Mijlaz). Or, in a view al-Qurtubi records, the angels in charge of the men on the heights tell them, “Enter Paradise.” Saheeh International’s brackets follow the first.
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Al-Qurtubi links this to the views on ayah 46. If the men on the heights are people with sins, their words end at “your arrogance”, and the rest is Allah speaking to the people of the Fire. If the whole ayah is theirs, they would be angels or prophets, since they are telling of Allah’s decision. On ayah 48, al-Tabari reports al-Suddi and Ibn Zayd: the men in the Fire were the tyrants and great ones of this world.
Facilitator guidance
For the facilitator: The first core narration on the hadith page puts the same two groups side by side: the weak person whose oath Allah fulfils, and the arrogant. Keep ayah 48 with the people the commentators name, not anyone in the room.
Reflection: Ayah 48 names two things that did not help: the crowd around them, and their pride.
Ayat 50–51 — Water refused, and a forgetting
The people of the Fire ask for water or some of the provision of Paradise, and are refused. Those who took their religion as play are left that Day, as they left the meeting of this Day.
Source summary: Ibn Kathir reports Saʿid ibn Jubayr: one of them will call his father or brother, “I have been burned, so pour some water on me.” On ayah 51 he says that Allah “will treat them as if He has forgotten them. Certainly, nothing escapes Allah’s perfect watch and He never forgets anything,” and he brings 20:52: “My Lord neither errs nor forgets.” He forgets them that Day as a just recompense, as in 9:67, 20:126 and 45:34. He cites a version of the second core narration on the hadith page.
Source summary: Al-Jalalayn explains “today We have forgotten them” as “We have left them in the Fire”.
Optional source note — al-Tabari and al-Qurtubi on water and forgetting
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Al-Tabari says their thirst and hunger come as a punishment for leaving Allah’s obedience and for not paying what was due from their wealth to the poor: zakat and charity. On ayah 51 he says the people of Paradise are still speaking until “deluded”, and then Allah speaks: today We leave them in the punishment, hungry and thirsty, as they left working for the meeting of this Day. In the reports he gives, Mujahid and Ibn ʿAbbas also explain it as leaving them.
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Al-Qurtubi says the ayah shows that giving water is among the best of deeds, and that ifāḍa, “pour”, is giving generously. He also reads the forgetting as leaving them in the Fire.
Facilitator guidance
For the facilitator: If someone asks how Allah can forget, the answer is on this page in the commentators’ words: He never forgets, and here it means He leaves them. The notes page has a line in case someone in the room is thinking of family when they hear ayah 50.
Reflection: The first thing asked for in ayah 50 is water, one of the simplest gifts there is. Here it is still ours to give.
Sources and further reading
- Tafsir Ibn Kathir (English, abridged) — Four entries, which give this page its units. on 7:44–45 ↗ · on 7:46–47 ↗ · on 7:48–49 ↗ · on 7:50–51 ↗
- Tafsir al-Jalalayn (English, trans. Feras Hamza) — Word-level glosses on every ayah. on 7:44 ↗ · on 7:46 ↗ · on 7:48 ↗ · on 7:51 ↗
- Tafsir al-Tabari (Arabic) — Read for every ayah, and on 7:46 for the views. on 7:44 ↗ · on 7:46 ↗ · on 7:49 ↗ · on 7:50 ↗ · on 7:51 ↗
- Tafsir al-Qurtubi (Arabic) — Read for every ayah. on 7:44 ↗ · on 7:46 ↗ · on 7:47 ↗ · on 7:49 ↗ · on 7:50 ↗
- Quranic Arabic Corpus — Roots and counts on the Arabic words page. 7:46 word by word ↗
Lectures on this passage
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Omar Suleiman
Juz' 8 with Sh. Ismail Kamdar, Dr. Omar Suleiman, & Sh. Abdullah Oduro
9:45 · his part, 4:48–14:33 of 41:44 · Yaqeen Institute (official channel)
Connection to the verses · editorial reflection: From the transcript: from 4:48 he goes back over ayat 8–9, 38–39 and 43, and from 9:16 walks through ayat 46–50. He gives one view of the men on the heights, equal good and bad deeds, and says they enter Paradise in the end.
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Nouman Ali Khan optional
Amazed by the Quran with Nouman Ali Khan: Allah's Promise is True?
6:13 · Nouman Ali Khan - Official - Bayyinah (official channel)
Connection to the verses · editorial reflection: From the transcript, a short talk on ayah 44: “promised us”, but only “what your Lord promised”. He says the ayah is not about Muslims hating others. His tone is casual in places.