وَإِذْ يَتَحَآجُّونَ فِى ٱلنَّارِ فَيَقُولُ ٱلضُّعَفَٰٓؤُا۟ لِلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوٓا۟ إِنَّا كُنَّا لَكُمْ تَبَعًا فَهَلْ أَنتُم مُّغْنُونَ عَنَّا نَصِيبًا مِّنَ ٱلنَّارِ
"When they dispute with one another in the Fire, the weak will say to those who were arrogant: 'We followed you; can you ward off from us any share of the Fire?'"
The verb is yataḥājjūn — root ح-ج-ج, Form VI: to bring proofs against one another, to press arguments back and forth. The root was treated at al-Jāthiya 45/25 (mā kāna ḥujjatahum).
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the backbone of the sūra: jidāl has been condemned throughout the sūra. What is being done in the Fire is once again disputing — but this time the sides have changed: those who now face one another are people who had followed one another.
And the dispute yields no result: qāla'lladhīna'stakbarū innā kullun fīhā — "we are all of us in it." That is, the answer does not resolve the objection; it merely states the situation.
There is a third stage as well (49-50): those in the Fire now turn to the keepers of Hell and ask for the punishment to be lightened. The answer again comes in the form of a question: a-wa-lam taku taʾtīkum rusulukum bi'l-bayyināt — "did your messengers not come to you with clear proofs?"
| Who to whom | What is asked | The answer |
|---|---|---|
| The weak → those who were arrogant | To share the load | "We are all in it" |
| All of them → the keepers | A lightening | "Did no proof come?" |
| The keepers → all of them | — | Fa'dʿū wa mā duʿāʾu'l-kāfirīna illā fī ḍalāl |