Unveiling Zaqqum: A Bitter Dish for Arrogant Souls Who Refuse to Submit

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Amidst the dark imagery of the Day of Judgement, Surah Ad-Dukhan presents one of the most chilling depictions in the Quran: the tree of Zaqqum, the sustenance of the inhabitants of Hell, which grows from the core of the fire of Jahannam.

These verses speak not only of physical torment but also of the destruction of human arrogance in the face of divine justice. Allah says:

إِنَّ شَجَرَتَ ٱلزَّقُّومِ

Inna shajarataz-zaqqūm

“Indeed, the tree of Zaqqum is,”

طَعَامُ ٱلْأَثِيمِ

Ṭa‘āmul-aṡīm

“food of [bitter] fruit – a trial for the wrongdoers.” (QS. Ad-Dukhan: 43–44)

In the Tafsir of Ibn Kathir, it is explained that Zaqqum is a real tree that Allah grows at the bottom of the fire of Jahannam. It is not merely a symbol, but a part of the torment of the afterlife, the reality of which surpasses human comprehension. What makes it even more terrifying is that the tree grows from the fire itself.

In this world, fire burns trees to ashes. But in Hell, fire is the soil in which the tree lives.

Its fruit resembles the heads of devils, an image understood by scholars as the epitome of evil and horror.

Then Allah continues:

كَٱلْمُهْلِ يَغْلِى فِى ٱلْبُطُونِ

Kal-muhli yaglī fil-buṭūn

“(It will be) like boiling scalding liquid in the bellies,”

كَغَلْىِ ٱلْحَمِيمِ

kaghalyil-ḥamīm

“and like the bursting of scalding water.”

(QS. Ad-Dukhan: 45–46)

The word al-muhl in the Tafsir of Al-Qurtubi is explained as molten metal, boiling black oil, or a very thick hot liquid. Imagine something that, when touched, destroys the skin, but in Hell, it is forced into the human body.