Al-Qamar · Makki · ayah 7 of 55

Al-Qamar 54:7

خُشَّعًا أَبْصَـٰرُهُمْ يَخْرُجُونَ مِنَ ٱلْأَجْدَاثِ كَأَنَّهُمْ جَرَادٌ مُّنتَشِرٌ

“Their eyes humbled, they will emerge from the graves as if they were locusts spreading,”

Saheeh International

Essence

Eyes that once looked down on others will look down at the ground, as humanity pours from its graves like a swarm.

A reflection

Pride lives in the eyes

A teenage boy is caught shoplifting. For twenty minutes in the manager's office he is defiant: arms folded, chin up, staring at the wall. Then his father walks in. The boy does not say a word. But his eyes drop to the floor and stay there.

The ayah describes the deniers on the Day of the Caller in the same way. Khushshaʿan abṣāruhum: their eyes lowered, humbled. Not their heads, not their shoulders. Their eyes.

Two commentators explain why. The humiliation of the humiliated and the might of the mighty both show in the eyes, more than anywhere else in the body. So the ayah names the eyes, and means the whole person.

Think about how much of pride lives in the gaze. The look that measures someone's clothes. The glance that dismisses a junior's idea. The eye-roll at a parent. The long stare meant to intimidate. The gaze that never quite meets the cleaner's eyes. Arrogance is often silent, and it almost always shows in where the eyes go.

The root of khushshaʿ gives that lowering a picture. A ruined wall that has slumped until it is level with the ground. A camel's hump that sinks when its fat is gone. Stars dipping towards their setting. Land without rain, low and bare. The lexicons record these, and they are established. Everything that stood up and stood out has sunk to the level of the earth.

One classical theologian adds that khushūʿ of the eyes is their stillness. They do not dart right or left; they stay fixed.

So the ayah quietly asks about our eyes now. Where do they look down on people? Where do they refuse to meet a gaze they should meet? Pride of the eyes can be unlearned. Look people in the face with respect. Lower your gaze from what is not yours to look at. The eyes that learn humility willingly will not have it forced on them.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.