Regarding His saying: "An inquirer asked" (Sa'ala sa'il), the general public reads it with a hamzah, derived from 'the question' (al-su'al). Al-Hasan said: The polytheists said to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): 'For whom is this torment that you mention will occur in the Hereafter?' So Allah said: "An inquirer asked about a torment" (Sa'ala sa'il bi-adhab), meaning: about a torment "that will befall the disbelievers." Some of them used to recite it: "A torrent flowed" (Sala saylun), without a hamzah, derived from 'the torrent' (al-sayl), and he said: It is a valley of fire that flows, "that will befall the disbelievers."
قَوْله: ﴿سَأَلَ سَائل﴾ الْعَامَّةُ يَهْمِزُونَهَا مِنْ بَابِ السُّؤَالِ، قَالَ الْحَسَنُ: إِنَّ الْمُشْرِكِينَ قَالُوا للنَّبِي ﷺ لِمَنْ هَذَا الْعَذَابُ الَّذِي تَذْكُرُ أَنَّهُ يَكُونُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ؟ فَقَالَ الله: ﴿سَأَلَ سَائل بِعَذَاب﴾ أَيْ: عَنْ عَذَابٍ ﴿وَاقِعٌ لِلْكَافِرِينَ﴾ وَكَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ يَقْرَؤُهَا: (سَالَ سَيْلٌ) بِغَيْرِ همزٍ مِنْ بَابِ السَّيْل، وَقَالَ هُوَ وَادٍ مِنْ نارٍ يسيل، ﴿بِعَذَاب وَاقع﴾ للْكَافِرِينَ
