And when most of creation is doomed, while the situation is one of threat and terror, He, the Exalted, began with the wretched, arranging for the publication according to the order of the wording, so He said: ﴿As for those who are wretched﴾, meaning: they have been overtaken by hardship and severity, ﴿then they are in the Fire﴾, meaning: it is decreed for them that they will enter the Fire, which is the Fire if you only knew. ﴿For them in it is a great sound﴾, meaning: very intense. ﴿And a gasping﴾ from the act of exhaling - when he releases his breath after extending it, and a gasping - when the weeping lingers in his chest - this is what is said in the dictionary. Ibn Kathir said in his Tafsir (p-382) of Surah Al-Anbiya: The sound is the exhalation of their breaths, and the gasping is the inhalation of their breaths. And from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them: The sound is the severe sound, and the gasping is the weak sound. And from Al-Dahhak and Muqatil: The sound is the first braying of the donkey, and the gasping is its last when it finishes its sound and it is returned into its belly. The words of Al-Rummani regarding this will come. ﴿They will remain in it﴾, meaning: without interruption, and He expressed it by saying, following the styles of the Arabs: ﴿As long as the heavens and the earth endure﴾.

And when He has everything, and nothing is unbecoming of Him, and He is capable of everything, He indicated this with His saying: ﴿Except what He wills﴾ [meaning: for a duration that He wills; for He does not decree for them that they will enter it].

And when the situation in this surah necessitated - as has been previously mentioned - the consolation of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, regarding what Allah, glorified and exalted is He, informed him in His saying: ﴿So perhaps you will leave out some of what is revealed to you﴾ [Hud: 12] - the verse. Due to the constriction of his chest, He brought forth these stories as has been explained. He expressed it with the name of the Lord, indicating that it is good for Him with everything that brings joy to his heart and expands his chest, so He said: ﴿Your Lord﴾. The people have generally taken this exception at face value, and then they prolonged the disagreement in determining the excluded duration. What has appeared to me - and Allah knows best - is that when the certainty of eternity in both abodes has been repeated and that shirk is not forgiven, while faith necessitates paradise, it might have been presumed that nothing else is possible, as the Mu'tazilah thought, especially when contemplating the definitive nature of His saying: ﴿Indeed, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him﴾ [An-Nisa: 48], along with the restriction of others by His will in His saying: ﴿And He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills﴾ [An-Nisa: 48]. This exception has come indicating that the matter in it is up to Allah, the Exalted, as with other matters. He has the right to do in all of them what He wills, even if the saying is definitive in it. However, nothing occurs except what He has informed of. This is like saying: 'Stay in this house for your lifetime, except as Zayd wills,' and Zayd may not will anything. Just as the linkage to the permanence of the heavens and the earth is not intended in the apparent meaning, so too this exception does not intend that Allah will cut off eternity for anyone from the two groups. Its presentation in this manner is more indicative of ability and greater in attributing the grace. Then I saw Imam Abu Ahmad Al-Baghawi mentioned the meaning of this as the last of what he presented in his tafsir from the sayings regarding the verse, and a similar account has been narrated from Al-Farra'. He exemplified it by saying: 'By Allah, I will certainly strike you unless I see,' and your determination is to strike him. Al-Tahawi attributed this in explaining the problematic to the people of language, among them Al-Farra'.

And when the eternal punishment of the disbelievers is from the ruling with justice between the two groups, because it is one of the greatest comforts for the believers who opposed them for the sake of Allah, as has been previously indicated at the beginning of Surah Yunus, peace be upon him, when He said: ﴿So that He may reward those who have believed and done righteous deeds with justice﴾ [Yunus: 4]. It may have been thought that if the exception were taken at face value, their removal from the Fire would not occur for a while. This assumption is negated by His saying: ﴿Indeed, your Lord﴾, meaning the one who is gracious to you, ﴿is All-Effective for what He wills﴾, meaning: it is not permissible for Him to begin to retract what He intended, nor to prevent what He desires, nor is anything of it impossible for Him despite the multitude of His desires. So there is no objection against Him, nor is He obligated to anyone in anything. Rather, He has the right to keep the sinners in Paradise and to keep the obedient in the Fire. However, as it has been established, this is to be believed because it is a characteristic of perfection. It has been established that He does not do that, glorified and exalted is He, and His words are not changed before Him, because that is also one of the attributes of perfection. Moreover, in concluding the verse with that, there is a delay for the people of the Fire in their removal from it, increasing their punishment.