Feeling pain

Prof. Dr. Hanafi Madbouly

The noble text:

Linguistic significance: And the Almighty saying: “Noslihim” (We will drive them into a fire) includes lighting the fire, and Al-Khalil said: The infidel will be driven into the fire; suffering from its severe heat. Al-Tabari said: They will burn out in a fire in which they will be casted. That is: they are grilled in it. (i.e. burned out) 

“Kulma” indicates the continuation and uninterruptedness of the torment, and the word “Kulma” requires two sentences, one of which follows the other, so the changing of skins depends on reaching the point of burning out. What is meant here: complete combustion of the skins. And His saying (so they taste the torment) is an explanatory sentence for His saying (We will change them), that is, We have changed them into other skins so that they experience the severity of the torment, and that they feel it every time, with every new skin). Among the definitions mentioned in language books is the definition of change (which is the source of “we will change them” mentioned in the verse): changing the image to another image, while remaining the same jewel. As for substitution, it is the source of the verb (we will replace them). It means setting aside the jewel and resuming another completely different jewel. That is: putting something completely different in the place of something else. Tha'lab said, commenting on this verse, as reported by the owner of the crown: This is the jewel itself, and changing the skins is changing its form to something else. Because it was soft, it turned black from torment, and the image of their first skins changed when that image was burnt out. So the jewel is one, and the image is different.

Sayings of the commentators: 

Ibn Jarir al-Tabari said: And His saying (Every time their skins are roasted through, We will change them with other skins so they taste the torment) 

is an explanation of the severity of the torment and its permanence, so the change in this is a real, material change. Meaning that Allah Almighty creates in place of the burned skins new skins different from the burned ones.

 Al-Fakhr Al-Razi said: It is a metaphor or a metaphor for the continuation of the torment for them and it will not stop them. This means: Whenever they think that they have burned, and ended up in destruction, `

We give them a new strength of life. And on the authority of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him He said:

(). Al-Tahir bin Ashour said: His saying: {so they taste the torment} is an explanation for His saying: {We will change them}. 

If the skin had not been changed after it was burned, the torment of the Fire would not have reached the soul. Changing the skin while its owner’s soul remains does not contradict justice, because the skin is a mean of conveying torment and is not what is intended by torture, and because it stems from the first skin, just as returning bodies for the Resurrection after they have decomposed and eaten by the earth, they are the same bodies, especially if their return is a result of the sprouting of tailbones, as it was reported. It has the effect, because what emerges from the thing is from it, like the palm tree from the nucleus.

Scientific guidance :

First: The structure of human skin and its functions:

The skin consists of 3 main layers: epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue. It is fatty tissue , and the skin contains seven layers, and protects the muscles, bones, ligaments, and internal organs (). The average thickness of the epidermis layer is 0.1 millimeters and there are no blood vessels in it at all (it is four layers), although it contains some nerve endings, sensory particles, and touch receptors that help distinguish between different objects and tissues. The dermis layer that follows the epidermis is divided into two layers, each of which has its own cells, and its thickness is 3-4 millimeters. It contains blood vessels, lymphatics, nerve endings, and sensory particles and their concentration, in addition to the sweat and sebaceous glands, oil, hair follicles, muscles, and nails (). The thickness of the dermis (middle layer) is about 15-40 times the thickness of the epidermis. As for the subcutaneous tissue, which is the inner layer, it is in all people much thicker than both the epidermis and the dermis.

Figure (1) an enlarged illustration of the structure of human skin

Second: Feeling pain:

The person with complete skin burning (third-degree burns), and the muscles are charred and may even reach the bones (fourth-degree burns), does not feel much pain as a result of damage to the nerve endings that transmit pain, unlike lower-degree burns, such as first- degree burns that cause damage to the skin, while second-degree burns radiate from the skin. To the dermis, where the pain is most intense as a result of the stimulation of exposed nerve endings ().

Figure (2) shows the degrees of burns from the first to the third degree, in which pain is felt.

After extensive studies for fifty years, scientists arrived at how to restore damaged skin from severe burns. They did not find anything more appropriate than replacing the burned skin with healthy skin (skin graft) from the same person. Recent studies have proven that severe burns lead to an increase in internal pressure in the abdomen, and the pain may extend to other areas of the body, and may lead to kidney failure, decreased blood circulation, and heart palpitations.

Aspects of scientific miracle:

This noble verse confirms that a person’s sense of pain is concentrated in the skin, and that if the skin is removed, the person loses the feeling of pain. This scientific fact was not realized by doctors until the twentieth century after they discovered the presence of millions of sensory receptors distributed in the human skin, and that a number of these receptors are dedicated to touch, or to feeling light and heavy pressures, and another number are dedicated to feeling pain, and a third group is dedicated to feeling differences in temperature below or above body temperature (37 degrees Celsius). 

The skin is the part richest in nerve endings that transmit pain, and the lowest degree of burns causes the most severe pain, and therefore replacing burned skin with healthy ones increases their torment. The Noble Qur’an has previously referred to this, and our Lord,

In light of the Noble Verse, we see that the people of Hell will taste its torment, and this means that their feeling of the taste of torment does not stop for a while and does end, so its taste is permanent and continuous, but if it was said: They will taste torment - then the taste of that torment could be gradual, and it may be interspersed with periods of rest and calm, or periods of not being subjected to torment, and this is what the noble verse categorically denied, when it chose the method of the immediate tasting of torment and not tasting it gradually, to portray the situation.

 This will be the torment in the fire, because it is a torment that does not stop for a moment during the grilling process, but rather the pain begins from the moment the fire comes into contact with the skin, and continues and increases gradually; the burn is graduated from the first to the fourth degree, and the burned skin is replaced and this new skin is subjected to another torture process. This noble Qur’anic verse is considered a precedence of all this knowledge acquired by more than fourteen centuries, and no rational person can imagine a source for this truth that came in it other than Allah the Creator (Glory be to Him) through His Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and this indicates the sincerity of the message and the sincerity of the Messenger. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds .

With my sincere regards and appreciation

Prof. Dr. Hanafi Madbouly, Beni Suef University - Egypt

Chairman of the Medical Committee of the International Center for Scientific Miracles for Research and Training