Tafseer of He frowned · Abasa · 80:41
Blackness will cover them.
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.
( تَرْهَقُهَا قَتَرَةٌ ) — "covered by darkness." He says: those faces are covered over by qatara, and that is the dust (al-ghabara).
And in keeping with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word ( تَرْهَقُهَا قَتَرَةٌ ), that he said: humiliation covers them over.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word ( تَرْهَقُهَا قَتَرَةٌ ): these are the faces of the inhabitants of the Fire (al-nār). He said: and al-qatara belongs to the dust (al-ghabara), and they are one and the same thing. He said: now as for the worldly life (al-dunyā): al-qatara is that which rises up and reaches the sky, and that which the wind carries aloft — the Arabs call that al-qatara; and that which is lower down upon the earth, that is al-ghabara.
