What does it mean that Hell 'lies in wait' (mirṣād) in Surah An-Naba 78:21?
Answer
In Surah An-Naba 78:21, "Indeed, Hell lies in wait" renders كَانَتْ مِرْصَادًا (kānat mirṣādan). A mirṣād is a place of ambush or a lookout — a position from which something watches and waits for whoever passes. The classical exegetes explain the image in two complementary ways: al-Ṭabarī and al-Qurṭubī describe Hell as lying in ambush, watching for the transgressors so that none of them escapes; Ibn Kathīr adds that it waits along the road they must travel, intercepting them as they pass. The picture is deliberately vivid — not a passive pit but something alert and waiting — which underscores that the punishment is not arbitrary: it is the appointed end specifically for "those who transgress" (al-ṭāghīn), defined earlier in the surah by their denial of the resurrection. But read closely whom the ambush is for, and the warning quietly becomes good news: it lies in wait only for the one who keeps refusing — and that refusal is not yet sealed for anyone still reading. The road past the ambush is open. The same God who placed the warning on the path also placed the way around it: turning back to Him today. He describes the danger so plainly precisely because He does not want you to walk into it.
Qur’anic evidence — read the full study of 78:21 →
In more depth
The strength of the image is its purpose. The Qur'an does not paint Hell to make God seem fearsome for its own sake — it paints it so that a heart still able to turn will turn. Notice the surah's structure: the ambush passage (78:21–26) is immediately followed by the people of the gardens (78:31–36), the same God laying out both roads side by side and inviting the reader to choose the one that ends in His gift, not His justice. A warning you can still act on is one of the kindest things you can be given.