Pictures of Their Punishments (Continued)
4⃣ Scorching (the face).
The Fire will burn and cover their faces forever, with no barrier between them and it:
“If only the unbelievers knew [the time] when they will not be able to ward off the Fire from their faces, nor yet from their backs, and [when] no help can reach them !” (21:39)
“The Fire will burn their faces and they will therein grin, with their lips displaced ” (23:104)
” Their garments of liquid pitch, and their faces covered with fire”. (14:50)
5⃣ Dragging
Another of the painful torments that the Kuffaar will suffer is being dragged on their faces into Hell:
“ Truly those in sin are the ones straying in mind, and mad. The Day they will be dragged through the Fire on their faces [they will hear]: “Taste the touch of Hell.” (54:47-48)
Their pain at being dragged will be increased by the fact that they will be tied up in chains and fetters:
“... But soon shall they know – when the yokes [shall be] round their necks, and the chains, they shall be dragged along, in the boiling fetid fluid, then shall they be burned” . (40:70-72)
Qataadah said, “They will be dragged once in the Fire, and once in al-Hameem.” (Ibn Rajab, at-Takhweef min an-Naar, p.147)
6⃣ Blackening of the faces.
Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’ala) will blacken the faces of the people of Hell in the Hereafter:
“On the Day when some faces will be [lit up with] white and some faces will be [in the gloom of] black; to those who faces will be black [it will be said]: “Did you reject Faith after accepting it? Taste then the Penalty for rejecting Faith “.(3:106)
This is intense blackness, as if the darkness of night had covered their faces
” But those who have earned evil will have a reward of like evil, and ignominy will cover their faces. No defender will they have from [the wrath of] Allah. Their faces will be covered, as it were, with pieces from the darkness of night. They are Companions [or dwellers] of the Fire, they will abide therein [for aye!] (10:27)
7⃣ The Fire Will Surround the Kuffaar
Sins and evil deeds surround the Kuffaar like a bracelet around the wrist, so their punishment should fit their crimes. Hence the Fire will surround the Kuffaar on all sides, as Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’ala) says:
” There will be a bed of Hell [Fire] and over them coverings [of Hellfire]” (7:41)
The “bed” is what comes under them, and the “coverings” are what come over them. What is meant is that fires will surround them from above and below, as Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’ala) says:
” On the Day when the torment [Hellfire] shall cover them from above them and from underneath their feet” (29:55)
” They shall have coverings of Fire above them, and coverings of Fire beneath them”. (39:16)
The “surrounding” may be interpreted in another way, which is that Hell will have a wall to surround the kuffaar so that they will never be able to get out or escape form it, as Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’ala) says:
“.. Verily We have prepared for the wrongdoers a Fire whose [smoke and flames] like the walls and roof of a tent, will hem them in; If they implore relief, they will be granted water like melted brass, that will scald their faces. How dreadful the drink! How uncomfortable a couch to recline on!” (18:29)