Tafseer of He frowned · Abasa · 80:38
[Some] faces, that Day, will be bright -
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.
And His word: وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ مُسْفِرَةٌ ("Faces on that Day will be radiant"). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: faces on that Day will be radiant and luminous, and these are the faces of the believers with whom Allah is pleased. One says: "asfara wajhu fulān" — the face of so-and-so shone — when it becomes bright; and from this is derived "asfara al-ṣubḥ" — the morning brightened — when it is illuminated. And everything that lights up is called "musfir" (radiant).
As for "safara" without the alif, it is said only of a woman when she removes her face-veil (niqāb) or her face-covering (burquʿ) from her face. One says: "qad safarat al-marʾa ʿan wajhihā" — the woman has uncovered her face — when she does so, and then she is "sāfir" (unveiled). And from this is the verse of Tawba ibn al-Ḥumayyir:
And whenever I used to visit Laylā, she would draw her veil before her face, but this morning her unveiling (sufūr) startled me.
By his word "sufūrihā" he means: the fact that she removed her face-covering from her face.
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The footnotes:
The verse is by Tawba ibn al-Ḥumayyir, the beloved of Laylā al-Akhyaliyya. In (al-Lisān, entry: safara): "safara al-ṣubḥ" and "asfara" — the morning brightened; "asfara al-qawm" — they reached the morning. And "safara wajhuhu ḥasanan" and "asfara" — his face shone. And in the noble Revelation: وجوه يومئذ مسفرة ("faces on that Day will be radiant"). Al-Farrāʾ said: that is, luminous and radiant; one says "asfara al-wajh" and "asfara al-ṣubḥ". He said: and when the woman casts off her face-veil, one says "safarat", and then she is "sāfir" without the hāʾ. End of quotation. I (the editor) say: this verse is from a long ode which Dāwūd al-Anṭākī cites in his book Tazyīn al-aswāq, with an extensive description of the states of the lovers, on pp. 96–97, and (al-Aghānī 11: 204–250). Abū al-Faraj said: when Tawba ibn al-Ḥumayyir would come to Laylā al-Akhyaliyya, she would go out to him in a face-covering. When his affair became notorious, they [her kinsfolk] complained about him to the ruler, who declared his blood lawful if he should come to them. They lay in wait for him at the place where he used to meet her. When she came to know of this, she went out with her face uncovered until she sat down on his path. When he saw her with her face uncovered, he understood what she intended and knew that he was being ambushed and that she had uncovered her face for this reason to warn him. Thereupon he spurred on his horse and escaped. And that is his word: "And whenever I came to Laylā ..." — the verse. End of quotation.
