Surah Ar-Rahman 55:44
سُورَةُ الرَّحۡمَٰن · Medinan · Verse 44 of 78
يَطُوفُونَ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَ حَمِيمٍ ءَانٍۢ
Translation
but they will go round between its flames and scalding water.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'They will circle between it and scalding, boiling water.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the restless image: no rest, no relief, only movement between the fire and the boiling, one torment fleeing into another. Ask yourself: even in this life I recognise that motion, bouncing between two miseries, escaping one discomfort straight into the next, never landing anywhere at peace. This verse shows that restlessness as the very texture of a life cut off from Him: circling, never settling. It presses me to ask where the true rest is found, because the alternative to His peace is not neutrality, but exactly this exhausting shuttle between one heat and another. Am I already, in smaller ways, circling between fires because I haven't turned toward the One who stills the heart?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Ar-Rahman 55:44 is discussed in 4 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Ar-Rahman 55:44 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.