Surah Al-Muddaththir (74) — Ayah 32

(Ayah 32 to 37) {كَلَّا وَ الْقَمَرِ …:’’ كَلَّا ‘‘} Never! That is, denial of Hell or the number of angels appointed over it is absolutely not correct. After this, by swearing three oaths, it is stated that Hell is indeed a very great thing. The relevance of these oaths to the subject of the oaths appears to be that the denial by those who deny Hell is because it is hidden from their eyes, and in their opinion, the existence of such a huge, terrifying, and magnificent thing is not possible. It is said: look at the moon in this universe, observe the stages it passes through daily from crescent to full moon and from full moon to crescent, ponder over them; look at the night when it departs and a great revolution occurs in the universe every day, then look at the morning when it brightens and the darkness of night packs up its belongings. Each of these is a great sign of Allah’s power; if you had never seen any of these things and you were told about them, would you have denied them in the same way you are denying Hell? When you are seeing such great realities with your own eyes and have no doubt about their existence, then the Creator of these things is telling you that surely Hell is also one of His great signs—why do you doubt it?
Another relevance is that your haste is also misplaced, that if you are truthful, then bring that Day of Judgment and Hell you warn us about right now. It is said: the moon’s journey from crescent to full and from full to crescent, the departure of night and the brightening of morning, and every great revolution in the universe comes at its appointed time, never before its time; similarly, you are surely progressing step by step towards the Day of Judgment, and very soon Hell will appear before you. This subject is mentioned in Surah Inshiqaq, verses (16 to 19); for details, see the commentary of those verses.
{’’ الْكُبَرِ ‘‘ ’’كُبْرٰي‘‘} is the plural of {’’أَكْبَرُ‘‘}, which is the feminine of {’’ نَذِيْرًا ‘‘}. {’’فَعِيْلٌ‘‘} is used for masculine and feminine, singular, dual, and plural, for all. That is, it is a warner for mankind, for those humans who have the choice that after hearing the warning verses about Hell, if they wish, they can accept faith and move towards Paradise, and if they wish, they can stay behind and become deserving of Hell, as it is said: «فَمَنْ شَآءَ فَلْيُؤْمِنْ وَّ مَنْ شَآءَ فَلْيَكْفُرْ » [ الکہف : ۲۹ ] “Then whoever wishes, let him believe, and whoever wishes, let him disbelieve.” That is, both faith and disbelief are a choice, yes, disbelief is not permitted nor is it liked by Allah, as He said: « وَ لَا يَرْضٰى لِعِبَادِهِ الْكُفْرَ » [ الزمر : ۷ ] “And He does not like disbelief for His servants.”

The exegesis of this verse has been done along with the previous verse.

The tafsir of this ayah is included with the following verse(s).