God says
And what could make thee conceive what hell-fire is? It does not allow to live, and neither leaves [to die]. Over it are nineteen (powers).* For We have caused none but angelic powers to lord over the powers [of hell];** and We have caused their number to be aught but a trial for those who are bent on denying the truth***…. Q.74:27-31
*Whereas most of the classical commentators are of the opinion that the “nineteen” are the angels that act as keepers or guardians of hell, Razi advances the view that we may have here reference to the physical, intellectual and emotional powers within man himself : powers which rise man far above any other creature, but which, if use wrongly, bring about a deterioration of his whole personality and, hence, intense suffering in the life to come. According to Razi, the philosophers (arbab al-hikmah) identify these powers or faculties with, firstly, the organic functions of the animal – and also therefore human – body (gravitation, cohesion, repulsion of noxious foreign matter, absorption of beneficent external matter, assimilation of nutrients, growth, and reproduction); secondly, the five “external” or physical senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste); thirdly the five “internal” or intellectual senses, defined by Ibn Sina – on whom Razi apparently relies – as (1) perception of isolated sense-images, (2) conscious apperception of ideas, (3) memory of sense-images, (4) memory of conscious apperceptions, and (5) the ability to co-relate sense-images and higher apperceptions; and lastly the emotions of desire or aversion (resp. fear or anger), which have their roots in both the “external” and “internal” sense-categories – thus bringing the total of the powers and faculties which preside over man’s fate to nineteen. In their aggregate, it is these powers that confer upon man the ability to think conceptually, and place him, in this respect, even above the angels (cf. 2:30; see also the following note).
** Since it is by virtue of his powers of conscious perception and conceptual thinking that man can arrive at a discriminating cognition of good and evil and, thus, rise to great spiritual heights, the powers are described here as “angelic” (lit., “angels” – this being the earliest occurrence of the term malak in the history of Qur’anic revelation). On the other hand, since the neglect or a deliberately wrong use of these angelic powers is the root of all sinning on the part of man and, therefore, of his suffering in the hereafter, they are spoken as “the lords (ashab) of the fire [of hell]”, which complements the expression “over it”.
*** This is apparently an allusion to the allegorical character of this passage, which “those who are bent on denying the truth” are unwilling to recognize as such and, hence, fail to grasp its real purport. By speculating reasons which allegedly induced Muhammad – whom they regard as the “author” of the Qur’an – to lay stress on one particular number, they tend to take the allegory in a literal sense, thus missing its point entirely.
Prophet said
“You must observe long silence because it scares away Satan and helps you in performing an act of your religion” – H: Shu‘ab Al – Iman. N: Abu Zarr.
“Pondering for an hour is better than divine service for a year” – Ihya of Imam Ghazali. H: Ibn Habban. N: Abu Hurairah.
