The adversary: a description by which the group or team is characterized. It is as if it were said: these are two groups or teams in dispute. And His saying 'these two' is for the wording. And 'they disputed' is for the meaning, like His saying: 'And among them are those who listen to you until when they leave.' And if it were said: 'these are two disputants' or 'they disputed,' it would be permissible. The believers and the disbelievers are intended. Ibn Abbas said:

He returned to the people of the six religions regarding their Lord, meaning in their religion and attributes. It has been narrated that the people of the Book said to the believers: 'We are more deserving of Allah, and we have an earlier scripture than you, and our prophet is before your prophet.' The believers said: 'We are more deserving of Allah; we have believed in Muhammad, and we have believed in your prophet and in what Allah has revealed from the Book, and you know our Book and our prophet, yet you abandoned it and disbelieved in it out of envy.' This is their dispute regarding their Lord.

'Indeed, Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection' is the resolution of the dispute, as indicated by His saying. And in a narration from Al-Kisai: 'disputants,' with a kasra (the vowel mark), and it was recited: 'they were cut off' with a lightening of the letters, as if Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has prepared for them fires according to the sizes of their bodies that encompass them, just as clothes encompass the wearer. It is permissible that those fires surround each one of them like clothes layered upon one another. Similar to His saying: 'Their garments will be of tar.'

'AL-HAMEEM' is the hot water. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'If a drop of it were to fall on the mountains of the world, it would dissolve them.' 'YUSHAAR' means 'to be melted.' And Al-Hasan said with emphasis on the letter 'h' for exaggeration, meaning: when the hot water is poured over their heads, its effect on the inside is like its effect on the outside; it dissolves their innards and intestines just as it dissolves their skins, which is more severe than His saying: 'And they are given water that is hot, and it cuts their intestines.' And the 'maqami' are the whips. In the hadith: 'If one of them were placed in the earth and the two heavy weights gathered upon it, they would not be able to carry it.' This is narrated by Ahmad and Abu Ya'la from the narration of Ibn Lahi'a from Durraj. Its wording is in His saying: 'And for them are whips of iron: if a whip of it were placed in the earth...' the hadith.

And Al-A'mash recited: 'They were returned therein.' And returning and being brought back can only happen after exiting. The meaning is: whenever they intend to exit from it due to distress, they are brought back into it. And the meaning of exiting is what has been narrated from Al-Hasan that the fire strikes them with its flames and lifts them, until when they are at its highest point, they are struck with the whips and fall into it for seventy autumns. And it is said to them: 'Taste the punishment of the blazing fire.' And 'the blazing fire' is the intense and widespread fire that causes great destruction.