23:104

تَلۡفَحُ وُجُوهَهُمُ ٱلنَّارُ وَهُمۡ فِيهَا كَٰلِحُونَ

Talfahu wujoohahumu alnnaru wahum feeha kalihoona

The Fire will sear their faces, and they therein will have taut smiles.

Word by word
  1. تَلۡفَحُWill burn
  2. وُجُوهَهُمُtheir faces
  3. ٱلنَّارُthe Fire
  4. وَهُمۡand they
  5. فِيهَاin it
  6. كَٰلِحُونَ(will) grin with displaced lips
Al-Mu'minun · 23:104Makkah

The Fire meets the faces that turned away.

A sober warning, told to protect you


The warning
the Firereaches faces
frowningin grief
Why you are told
to frighten without hope
to turn you while you can

Ibn Kathir links this to verses saying fire will cover their faces and they will not be able to ward it off. Ibn Abbas explained their look as frowning. It describes the end of those whose scales were light.

Your face turned toward the screen at prayer time. Your face turned away from the person asking for help. The warning is about your face, and today you choose where it turns.

Warnings about Hell are only meant to scare people.

The warning is a mercy telling me to turn my face toward Allah now.

Try this

At your next prayer, place your forehead down slowly and ask Allah to protect your face from the Fire.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 23:101)

Then, when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no kinship among them that Day, nor will they ask of one another (101)Then, those whose Scales (of good deeds) are heavy, these! they are the successful (102)And those whose Scales (of good deeds) are light, they are those who lose themselves, in Hell will they abide (103)The Fire will burn their faces, and therein they will grin, with displaced lips (disfigured)(104)

The Sounding of the Trumpet and the Weighing of Deeds in the Scales

Allah says that when the Trumpet is blown for the Resurrection, and the people rise from their graves,

فَلَا أَنسَابَ بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَلَا يَتَسَاءَلُونَ

(there will be no kinship among them that Day, nor will they ask of one another.) meaning that lineage will be of no avail on that Day, and a father will not ask about his son or care about him. Allah says:

وَلَا يَسْأَلُ حَمِيمٌ حَمِيمً - يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ

(And no friend will ask a friend (about his condition), though they shall be made to see one another)(70:10-11). meaning, no relative will ask about another relative, even if he can see him and even if he is carrying a heavy burden. Even if he was the dearest of people to him in this world, he will not care about him or take even the slightest part of his burden from him. Allah says:

يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ الْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ - وَأُمِّهِ وَأَبِيهِ - وَصَاحِبَتِهِ وَبَنِيهِ

(That Day shall a man flee from his brother. And from his mother and his father. And from his wife and his children.)(80:34-36) Ibn Mas'ud said, "On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will gather the first and the last, then a voice will call out, 'Whoever is owed something by another, let him come forth and take it.' And a man will rejoice if he is owed something or had been mistreated by his father or child or wife, even if it is little. " This is confirmed in the Book of Allah, where Allah says:

فَإِذَا نُفِخَ فِي الصُّورِ فَلَا أَنْسَابَ بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ وَلَا يَتَسَاءَلُونَ

(Then, when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no kinship among them that Day, nor will they ask of one another.) This was recorded by Ibn Abi Hatim.

فَمَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

(Then, those whose Scales are heavy, these! they are the successful.) means, the one whose good deeds outweigh his bad deeds, even by one. This was the view of Ibn 'Abbas.

 فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

(they are the successful.) means, those who have attained victory and been saved from Hell and admitted to Paradise. Ibn 'Abbas said, "These are the ones who have attained what they wanted and been saved from an evil from which there is no escape."

وَمَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ

(And those whose Scales are light,) means, their evil deeds outweigh their good deeds.

 فَأُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ خَسِرُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ

(they are those who lose themselves,) means, they are doomed and have ended up with the worst deal. Allah says:

فِي جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدُونَ

(in Hell will they abide.) meaning, they will stay there forever and will never leave.

تَلْفَحُ وُجُوهَهُمُ النَّارُ 

(The Fire will burn their faces,) This is like the Ayah:

 وَتَغْشَىٰ وُجُوهَهُمُ النَّارُ

(and fire will cover their faces)(14:50). and:

لَوْ يَعْلَمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا حِينَ لَا يَكُفُّونَ عَنْ وُجُوهِهِمُ النَّارَ وَلَا عَنْ ظُهُورِهِمْ 

(If only those who disbelieved knew (the time) when they will not be able to ward off the Fire from their faces, nor from their backs)(21:39).

وَهُمْ فِيهَا كَالِحُونَ

(and therein they will grin, with displaced lips.) 'Ali bin Abi Talhah narrated from Ibn 'Abbas, "Frowning."