His saying, exalted is He: "He said, 'Are you all observing?'" "Then he observed him in the midst of the Hellfire." "He said, 'By Allah, you were almost the cause of my destruction.'" "And if it were not for the favor of my Lord, I would have been among those brought forth.'" "Are we not to die, except for our first death, and we will not be punished?" "Indeed, this is the great success." "For such as this, let the workers work."

In the speech, there is an omission, the meaning of which is: He said to this man present from the angels: 'Indeed, your companion is in Hell being punished.' So he said at that time: "Are you all observing?" It is possible that he addresses the angels with "you all," and it is possible that he addresses his companions in Paradise, and it is possible that he addresses his servants. All of this was narrated by al-Mahdawi. The majority read: "observing" with a fatḥah on the ṭāʾ, doubled. Abu Amr read - in the narration of Ḥusayn - with a sukun on it and a fatḥah on the nūn. Abu al-Barhams read with a sukun on it and a kasrah on the nūn, on the basis that it is the pronoun of the speaker. Abu Ḥātim and others rejected this reading and considered it incorrect; because it combined the genitive yāʾ and the nūn of the speaker. The correct way is to say: "my observing." Abu al-Faṭḥ ibn Jinni explained the reading and said: The subject was placed in the position of the present tense verb. Al-Ṭabarī recited on this:

And I do not know, and my assumption is every assumption ∗∗∗ Will you lead me to my people, O Sharāḥī?

And al-Farrāʾ said: He means Sharāḥīl.

The majority read: "Then he observed" with the connection of the alif and the doubling of the opened ṭāʾ. Abu Amr in the narration of Ḥusayn read with a ḍammah on the alif and a sukun on the ṭāʾ and a kasrah on the lām, which is the reading of Abu al-Barhams. Al-Zajjāj said: It is the reading of whoever read: "observing" with a kasrah on the nūn. It has been narrated that the people of Paradise have windows and openings from which they can look upon the people of the Fire whenever they wish, for the purpose of punishment and reflection; because they have joy and comfort in the punishment of the people of the Fire and their reproach, as narrated by al-Rummānī from Abu ʿAlī.

"The midst of the Hellfire" is its center, said Ibn ʿAbbās, al-Ḥasan, and the people. It is called 'midst' due to the equality of the distance from it to the sides. The Hellfire is the accumulated embers of the fire. It has been narrated from Muṭarif ibn ʿAbd Allah and Khulayd al-ʿAṣarī that he saw that its ink and measure had changed, meaning: his state had changed. And if it were not for what Allah had made him recognize, he would not have distinguished it. So the believer said to him at that time: "By Allah, you were almost the cause of my destruction," meaning: you would have led me to ruin by your temptation. And al-radā means destruction, from which is the saying of al-Aʿshā:

In the pilgrimage, you feared for me destruction ∗∗∗ And how many a destruction has its people not returned.

And in the Mushaf of Ibn Masʿūd: [You were almost the cause of my leading astray] with a wāw, from temptation, and Abu Amr al-Dānī mentioned it with a rāʾ, from seduction, and the tāʾ in all of this is included.

He raised "the favor of my Lord" as a beginning, which is the grammatical structure of what comes after "if it were not for" according to Sibawayh, and the news is omitted, the meaning of which is: it was recovered and similar to it. And "those brought forth" means: in punishment.

And the saying of the believer: ﴿So are we not to die﴾ to his saying: ﴿And we are not to be punished﴾ it is possible that it is an address to his companions, in Paradise when he saw what had befallen his companion. He looked at his state in Paradise and the state of his companions, and he estimated the blessing as it deserves. So he said to them - in the manner of stopping - what he said, and this saying comes - on this interpretation - his saying: ﴿Indeed, this is the great success﴾ and what follows it is connected to his words, an address to his companions. It is also possible that the ﴿So are we not﴾ to his saying [to be punished] is an address to his companion in the manner of reproach, as if he is saying: Where is what you used to say that we die and there is no punishment or torment after death? And his saying, may He be exalted: ﴿Indeed, this is the great success﴾ to his saying: ﴿So let the workers work﴾ it is possible that it is from the address of the believer to his companion, and this is what Qatadah went with. It is also possible that it is from the address of Allah, may He be exalted, to Muhammad ﷺ and his nation, and this is strengthened by the fact that the saying of the believer ﴿For such as this let the workers work﴾ and the Hereafter is not a place of action, it is only concerning a concession, as if he is saying: For such as this it was necessary for the workers to work.