Ala-Maududi
(74:31) We[17] have appointed none but angels as the keepers of theFire,[18] and We have not made their number but as a trial for theunbelievers[19] so that those who have been endowed with the Book will beconvinced[20] and the believers’ faith will increase, 21 and neitherthose who have been endowed with the Book nor the believers will fall into any doubt. As forthose in whose hearts there is a sickness[22] as well as the unbelievers, they willsay: “What did Allah aim at by this strange parable?”[23] Thus does Allah letwhomsoever He pleases to go astray, and directs whomsoever He pleases[24] to theRight Way. And none knows the hosts of your Lord but He.[25] (And Hell has only beenmentioned here) that people may take heed.[26]
17. The whole passage from here to “none knows the hosts of your Lord but He Himself”, is aparenthetical sentence, which has been inserted here to answer an objection of the disbelievers,who had started mocking it when they heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) say that 19 keepershad been appointed over Hell.
Their objection was: How strange that, on the one hand, we are told that all human beings, fromthe time of the Prophet Adam till Resurrection, who disbelieved and committed evil, will be castinto Hell, and, on the other hand, that there will be only 19 keepers, who will administerpunishment to the countless numbers of men in such a huge Hell.
This caused a huge laughter among the chiefs of Quraish. Abu Jahl said: Brothers, are you sopowerless that even as many as ten of you at a time will not be able to overpower a singlepoliceman of Hell. At this a wrestler of the Bani Jumha said: Well I will deal with andoverpower at least 17 of them by myself; as for the remaining two, you all together can tacklethem. In response these sentences have been inserted as a parenthetical clause.
18. That is, it is foolish on your part to compare the angelic powers to human powers. They willbe angels, not men, and you cannot imagine what tremendous powers Allah has granted to theangels He has created.
19. That is, although apparently there was no need to mention the number of the keepers of Hell,yet We have mentioned it so that it becomes a trial for every such person who may be concealingany kind of unbelief in his heart. Such a man may be making a great display of his faith but ifhe conceals even a tinge of the doubt about the Godhead and supreme powers of God, or aboutrevelation and Prophethood, anywhere in his heart, his disbelief would immediately be exposed assoon as he would hear that only 19 policemen would control countless numbers of the culpritsfrom among the jinn and men in such a huge jail and would also administer punishment to each ofthem individually.
20. Some commentators have explained it thus: As in the scriptures of the Jews and Christians,the same number of the angels has also been mentioned as keepers of Hell, they would beconvinced of this thing’s being truly from Allah as soon as they heard it. But in our opinionthis commentary is not correct for two reasons. First, we have not been able to see anywhere inthe existing scriptures of the Jews and Christians in spite of search that the number of theangels appointed over Hell is 19. Second, there are many things in the Quran, which have alsobeen mentioned in the scriptures of the Jews and Christians, yet they explain them away, sayingthat the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has plagiarized these from their books. For thesereasons the correct meaning of this statement in our opinion is: The Prophet Muhammad (peace beupon him) knew that he would be ridiculed as soon as the disbelievers heard that 19 angels hadbeen appointed over Hell, but in spite of this, he presented without the least hesitation andfear publicly before the people what had been revealed to him from Allah, and did not at allmind the jesting and mocking by the people. The pagans of Arabia were unaware of the uniquedistinction of the Prophets, but the followers of the earlier scriptures were fully aware thatthe Prophets in every age used to convey to their people intact whatever they received from God,whether it pleased them or displeased them. On this very basis it was to be expected of the Jewsand the Christians that they would be convinced of the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him)truth for only a Prophet could present an apparently strange thing without any hesitation beforethe people in an environment charged with antagonism and hostility. This is also evident thatsuch a thing was shown by the Prophet (peace be upon him) on many other occasions. Its mostprominent example is the event of the miraj (ascension) which he related openly before a generalassembly of the disbelievers and did not at all care how his opponents would behave and reactafter they had heard the story of the wonderful event.
21. It has been explained at several places in the Quran that on the occasion of every trial whena believer remains steadfast to his faith, and forsaking the way of doubt and denial,disobedience or disloyalty to the faith, adopts the way of faith, obedience and loyalty to it,it increases and strengthens him all the more in faith and resignation For explanation, see (Surah Aal-Imran, Ayat 173); (Surah Al-Anfal, Ayat 2); (Surah At-Taubah, Ayat 124-125); (Surah Al-Ahzab, Ayat 22); (Surah Al-Fath, Ayat 4).
22. As sickness of the heart in the Quran is generally understood to imply hypocrisy, seeing thisword here some commentators have expressed the view that this verse was revealed at Al-Madinah,for the hypocrites appeared at Al- Madinah. But this view is not correct for several reasons. Inthe first place, the assertion itself that there were no hypocrites at Makkah is false, and itsfalsehood has been exposed in the Introduction to the (Surah Al-Ankabut, ayat 10-11).
Secondly, in our opinion it is not a correct way of writing commentary that in respect of acertain sentence occurring in a particular discourse which was revealed on a particularoccasion, under particular circumstances, one should declare that it had been sent down onanother occasion but has been inserted here without any relevance. The historical background ofthis part of Surah Al-Muddaththir is well known to us from authentic traditions. This wasrevealed in connection with a particular event of the early period of the life at Makkah. Thewhole context bears full relevance to the event. What could, therefore, be the occasion in thiscontext that this one sentence, if it was revealed many years later at Al- Madinah, should havebeen inserted here?
As for the question what is implied by the disease of the heart here, its answer is that itimplies the disease of doubt. Not only in Makkah but in the entire world there have been, andare, very few such people, who might deny God, Hereafter, Revelation, Prophethood, Heaven, Hell,etc. absolutely. In every age the greater majority by far has been of those people, who havebeen involved in the doubt whether there is God, or no God, Hereafter or no Hereafter, whetherHeaven and Hell really exist, or are mere figments of the imagination, and whether theMessengers did really come and receive revelation or not. This same doubt has led most people tounbelief, otherwise the number of such people in the world who denied these truths absolutelyhas never been great. For a person who has any common sense knows that there is no rationalground whatever for denying the possibility of the existence of these things, or of declaringthem absolutely impossible.
23. This does not mean that they accepted it as divine word but wondered why Allah had said sucha thing. But what they actually meant was: A discourse which contained such an irrational andimpossible thing could not be a revelation from Allah.
24. That is, Allah in this very way sometimes sends down in the course of His revelations andcommandments such things as become a means of test and trial for the people. It is one and thesame thing which a truth-loving, goodnatured and right-minded person hears and understanding itsright meaning in the right way and adopts the straight path. But when heard by an obstinate,perverse and willful wrongdoer, makes him to misconstrue it and make it a new excuse for fleeingfrom the truth. Since the first man is himself a lover of the truth, Allah grants him guidance,for it is not the way of Allah to lead the seekers after truth forcibly astray. And since thesecond man himself does not want guidance, but chooses only error for himself, Allah also pusheshim on to the way of error and deviation, for it is also not the way of Allah to forcibly pullto the way of the truth him who has an aversion to the truth. The question of Allah’s grantingguidance and misguidance has been fully explained at many places for example, see (Surah Al-Baqarah, ayat 7-20) note 10,16, 19, 20; (Surah An-Nisa, ayat 143)note 173; (Surah Al-Anaam, ayat 25)note 17; (Surah Al-Anaam, ayat 39) note28; (Surah Al-Anaam, ayat 122) note90; (Surah Younus, ayat 9) note 13; (Surah Al-Kahf, ayat 57) note 54; (Surah Al-Qasas, ayat 51) note 71.
25. That is, none knows but Allah what different kinds and how many of the creatures He hascreated in the universe, what powers He has granted them, and what services He is taking fromthem. If the man clinging to the tiny globe of the earth seeing the tiny world around himselfwith his limited sight, is involved in the misunderstanding that the universe of God containsnothing but what he can perceive by his senses or by his instruments, this would only be his ownshortsightedness, otherwise this universe is so vast and limitless that it is not in the powerof man to obtain full knowledge about any of the things here, not to speak of comprehendingmentally the concept of all its vastnesses.
26. The people may take heed: the people may recover their senses and wake up before they makethemselves worthy of Hell and suffer its punishment, and should think of saving themselves fromit. 32. No, never!