2:80

Wa qaaloo lan tamassanan Naaru illaaa ayyaamam ma'doo dah; qul attakhaztum 'indal
laahi 'ahdan falai yukhlifal laahu 'ahdahooo am taqooloona 'alal laahi maa laa
ta'lamoon

And they say, "The Fire will not touch us except for a number of days." Say, "Have
you received a promise from God-God never breaks His promise-or are you saying
about God what you do not know?"

And they (Jews) say, "The Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days. Say
(O
Muhammad pbuh to them): "Have you taken a covenant from Allah, so that Allah will
not break His
covenant Or is it that you say of Allah what you know not

------------------------------
ASBAB AL NUZUL
(And they say: The Fire (of punishment) will not touch us save for a certain number
of
days…) [2:80].

Isma‘il ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Sufi informed us> Abu’l-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn
Hamid al-‘Attar> Ahmad ibn al-Hasan ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar> Abu’l-Qasim ‘Abd Allah ibn
Sa‘d al-Zuhri> his father and paternal uncle> their father> Ibn Ishaq> Muhammad ibn
Abi Muhammad> ‘Ikrima> Ibn ‘Abbas who said: “Allah’s Messenger, Allah bless him and
give him peace, came to Medina and found the Jews saying: ‘This worldly life will
last seven thousand years. And for every one thousand years of the days
of this worldly life people will be tormented in hell fire for one day of the days
of the Afterlife. Thus, the torment will last for only seven days’. Allah, exalted
is He, revealed concerning this saying: (And they say: The Fire (of punishment)
will not touch us save for a certain number of days)”.

Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tamimi informed us> ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn
Hayyan> Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Razi> Sahl ibn ‘Uthman> Marwan ibn
Mu‘awiyah> Juwaybir> al-Dahhak> Ibn ‘Abbas said concerning the verse (And they say:
The Fire (of punishment) will not touch us save for a certain number of days): “The
people of the Book found out that from one end of hell fire to the other a journey
of forty years was needed, and, therefore, they said: ‘We shall not be tormented in
hell fire except for the period of time specified in the Torah’. And so they
proceeded in their torment until they reached Saqar wherein is the tree of Zaqqum
until the certain number of days which they mentioned came to an end. The denizens
of hell fire then said to them: ‘you claimed you will not be tormented in hell fire
except for a certain number of days. Well, those certain number of days has
elapsed, but eternity remains’ ”.11
--------------------

- The Jews hope They will only remain in the Fire for a Few Days

- Allah mentioned the claim of the Jews, that the Fire will only touch them for a
few days, and
then they will be saved from it . Allah refuted this claim by saying,

"Say (O Muhammad to them): "Have you taken a covenant from Allah" Hence, the Ayah
proclaims, 'if you had a promise from Allah for that , then Allah will never break
His promise.
However, such promise never existed. Rather, what you say, about Allah, you have no
knowledge of and you thus utter a lie about Him.
- Al-Awf i said that Ibn Abbas said about the Ayah

"And they (Jews) say, "The Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days"

- The Jews said, The Fire will only touch us for forty days. Others added that this
was the period during
which the Jews worshipped the calf

- Also, Al-Hafiz Abu Bakr bin Marduwyah reported Abu Hurayrah saying

- When Khaybar was conquered, a roasted poisoned sheep was presented to the Prophet
as a
gift (by the Jews). The Messenger of Allah ordered, Assemble before me all the Jews
who
were here. 'The Jews were summoned and the Prophet said (to them), 'Who is your
father'
They replied, 'So-and-so. 'He said, 'You have lied; your father is so-and-so. 'They
said, 'You
have uttered the truth. 'He said, 'Will you now tell me the truth, if I ask you
about something'
They replied, 'Yes, O Abul-Qasim; and if we should tell a lie, you will know our
lie as you have
about our fathers. 'On that he asked, 'Who are the people of the (Hell) Fire' They
said, 'We
shall remain in the (Hell) Fire for a short period, and after that you will replace
us in it . 'The
Prophet said, 'May you be cursed and humiliated in it ! By Allah, we shall never
replace you in
it . 'Then he asked, 'Will you tell me the truth if I ask you a question' They
said, 'Yes, O Abul-
Qasim. 'He asked, 'Have you poisoned this sheep' They said, 'Yes. 'He asked, 'What
made you
do so' They said, 'We wanted to know if you were a liar, in which case we would get
rid of you,
and if you were a Prophet then the poison would not harm you."

Imam Ahmad, Al-Bukhari and An-Nasa'i recorded similarly

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TAFSIR AL TUSTARI

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Decoding the Quran

And they say, “The fire won’t burn us except for a certain amount of days.” Say to
them, “Have you taken a covenant from Allah (the Absolute Reality in your essence)?
For Allah will never break His covenant. Yet you make fabrications against Allah.”

...
[2:80] And they say, when the Prophet promised them the Fire, ‘the Fire shall not
touch us, that is, afflict us, save a number of days’, only a short time of forty
days: the same length of time their forefathers worshipped the calf, after which
time it [the Fire] will cease. Say, to them Muḥammad (ṣ): ‘Have you taken with God
a covenant?, a pledge from Him to this? God will not fail in His covenant, in this
matter, or — nay — say you against God what you do not know? (aʾttakhadhtum: the
conjunctive hamza has been omitted on account of the interrogative hamza
sufficing).