The Call of the People of Hell by Muḥammad Ibn Ṣāliḥ al-'Uthaymīn

[Abu az-Zubayr Scott Harrison]

Muḥammad Ibn Ṣāliḥ al-'Uthaymīn, in his Tafsīr of Sūrah al-Naba, explains a few points of wisdom regarding the humiliation and despair of the people of Hell contained within their call. He says:

In another verse in the Quran, the people in the fire will ask the keepers (angels) of Hell:

And those in the fire will say to the keepers of Hell, "Call upon your Lord that He may lighten the punishment upon us for a single day."
[Sūrah Ghāfir, 40:49]

1. These people will not ask Allah ( سبحانه وتعالى ) directly. Instead they will request the keepers of Hell to call upon Allah for them. This is because Allah says to them:
   
   
   Remain despised therein and do not speak to me.
   [Sūrah al-Muminūn, 23:108]
   
   So they will see themselves as not even deserving of asking Allah directly and calling upon him without some sort of mediator.
   
   
2. They will say, "Call upon your lord" and not, "Call upon our Lord." This is because neither their faces nor their hearts will be able to even speak or think by associating the lordship of Allah with themselves by saying, “our Lord.” They will see themselves as so shameful and humiliated that they will not deserve to associate themselves with Allah’s lordship, so they instead say, "your Lord."
   
   
3. The people of the fire also will not say, "…that He may relieve us from the punishment." Instead, they say, "that He may lighten the punishment upon us," because they will have completely despaired, lost all hope of ever getting completely out of the punishment, so they ask only for it to be lightened, and we seek Allah's protection.
   
   
4. They will also not say, "lighten the punishment upon us forever." Instead, they will say, "for a single day" – just for one day. With this, it becomes clear the anguish and misery they will be in of punishment, disgrace, and shame.
   
   
   And you will see them being exposed to it (the fire), humbled from humiliation, looking with a faint glance.
   [Sūrah ash-Shūrá, 42:45]

May Allah protect us from such punishment.

The Arabic for these points can be read here: http://www.ibnothaimeen.com/all/books/article_17862.shtml.