Tafsir alTustari Sura الحاقة Ayah No. 32

‘And [bind him] in a chain seventy cubits long.’Each cubit is equivalent to seventy fathoms (bāʿ), and each fathom is longer that the distance between Kufa and Mecca. If you were to put one of its links on the summit of a mountain, it [the mountain] would melt, just as lead melts. This is what is related from Ibn ʿAbbās y. It is also related that ʿUmar

once said to Kaʿb, ‘Frighten us, O Abū Isḥāq’. So he said, ‘O Commanderof the believers, if you performed acts of worship to the extent that you became like a pruned stick, and you had to your credit the works of seventy prophets, you would still think that you will not be saved from the command of your Lord and the Throne Bearers. When the Preserved Tablet is brought forward with the record of all the deeds, when Hell is displayed and Paradise is brought near, and humanity stands before the Lord of the Worlds, Hell will heave a sigh that will cause every one of the angels who are drawn near (malak muqarrab) and every prophet messenger (nabī mursal) to fall down on their knees without exception, to the point that Abraham will cry “My soul! My soul!” Then the just man (rajul ʿādil) and the oppressor (rajul jāʾir) will be summoned, [the name of each being called out] above the heads of the masses. When the just man is brought forward, his book will be raised up to him for him to receive in his right hand. There is no happiness, no joy, and no rapture that ever descended on a servant greater than that which will descend on him on that day. And he will say above the heads of the crowds what God, Exalted is He, related. Then the oppressor will be brought forward andhis book will be thrust into his left hand, and there is no grief, no humiliation, and no distress that ever befell a man severer than that which will befall that man. He will then say above the heads of the crowds what God, Exalted is He, has related. Then he will be seized and dragged on his face to the Fire and his flesh, bones and brains will be scattered about.’Upon this ʿUmar

cried, ‘That’s enough for me! Enough!’ Sahl said:The chains and shackles are not for the sake of binding [the people], but rather for the sake of dragging them ever lower, forever after, as long as they reside there.His words, Mighty and Majestic is He:

Tafsīr al-Tustarī, trans. Annabel Keeler and Ali Keeler
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