Tafseer of The Moon · Al-Qamar · 54:7
Their eyes humbled, they will emerge from the graves as if they were locusts spreading,
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of the Exalted: Met nedergeslagen blikken zullen zij uit de graven komen alsof zij verspreide sprinkhanen zijn (7).
Met nedergeslagen blikken — He says: with humbled, abased glances, which can cause no harm. Zij zullen uit de graven komen (they will come out of the graves) — and that (al-ajdāth) is the plural of jadath, and these are the graves. He, exalted is His praise, described only the glances with abasement and not the rest of their bodies, while He intends their entire bodies, because the trace of the humiliation of every humiliated one and the power of every powerful one shows itself in his eyes and not in the rest of his body; therefore He singled out the glances with the description of abasement.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning the meaning of His word met nedergeslagen blikken (with downcast glances), the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word met nedergeslagen blikken: that is, their glances are humbled.
The reciters differed over the reading of His word met nedergeslagen blikken. Most of the reciters of Medina and some of the Meccans and Kufans read it as khushshaʿan (with ḍamma on the khāʾ and doubling of the shīn), in the meaning of "humble." And most of the reciters of Kufa and some Basrans read khāshiʿan abṣāruhum with the alif, in the singular, according to the reading of ʿAbd Allāh; and that is because in the reading of ʿAbd Allāh it reads khāshiʿatan abṣāruhum. They put it in the singular, while it has the form of a noun, because it is an adjectival qualifier according to the rule of faʿala and yafʿalu in the singular, when it precedes the nouns, as the poet said:
And youths, fair of countenance,
of Iyād, son of Nizār, son of Maʿadd. (1)
He used "fair" (ḥasanan) in the singular, while it is a qualifier of "countenances" (al-awjuh), which is a plural; and as another said:
The riders traverse therewith the mountain passes, set crosswise,
the necks of her sturdy camels, the reins let loose for her. (2)
He used "set crosswise" (muʿtariḍan) in the singular, while it is a qualifier of "the necks" (al-aʿnāq), and both the plural and the feminine are permissible therein in the manner we have set forth.
And His word alsof zij verspreide sprinkhanen zijn (as if they were scattered locusts) — the Exalted, Whose praise is exalted, says: they come out of their graves as if, in their dispersal and their hastening to the place of reckoning, they were scattered locusts.
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The footnotes:
(1) The verse is by al-Ḥāris ibn Daws al-Iyādī, and is also attributed to Abū Dāwud al-Iyādī (margin of al-Qurṭubī 17:129). The verse belongs to the testimonia of al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 317). He said: when the verb precedes a feminine noun belonging to it, or a feminine plural such as al-anṣār and al-aʿmār and the like, then it is permissible to make the verb feminine, masculine, or plural; and that has occurred here in this word, for Ibn ʿAbbās read it khāshiʿan abṣāruhum. Hushaym and Abū Muʿāwiya related that to me, on the authority of Wāʾil ibn Dāwud, on the authority of Muslim ibn Yasār, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he read it khāshiʿan. He said: and Hushaym related to me, on the authority of ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and Abī Rajāʾ al-ʿUṭāridī: that one of the two read khāshiʿan and the other khushshaʿan. Al-Farrāʾ said: and in the reading of ʿAbd Allāh (ibn Masʿūd) it is khāshiʿatan abṣāruhum. And the people thereafter read khushshaʿan abṣāruhum; and the poet has said: "And youths, fair ..." — the verse.
(2) And this testimonium likewise belongs to the testimonia of al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 317), as proof that when the verb and the like precedes a feminine noun (broken plural) such as al-anṣār and al-aʿmār and the like, it is permissible to make the verb feminine, masculine, or plural. And al-Farrāʾ said in commentary on this verse: al-judul is the plural of al-jadīl, and that is the rein. Had he said muʿtariḍāt or muʿtariḍa, that would have been correct, just as murkhāt and murkhayāt. End.
