'Abasa · Makki · ayah 40 of 42

'Abasa 80:40

وَوُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَلَيْهَا غَبَرَةٌ

“And [other] faces, that Day, will have upon them dust.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Other faces that Day will carry dust, the residue of a life that ran after everything but its Lord; for now, faces can still turn.

A reflection

The dust left after the runner

Ghabara, dust, comes from a root that holds two pictures, and the lexicons record both. One is remaining. A ghābir was one who stayed on after the others had gone. Ghubr was the milk left in the udder, or the last of the night. The other is dust, ghubār, and its dull colour. One lexicon joins them: dust is what lingers of the stirred-up earth after the runner has passed.

That is a haunting image for this ayah. The faces of that Day that carry ghabara are covered with what remains after a life has run past. The race is over. What is left is dust.

Picture a horse race on a dry summer course. The field thunders past the stands in seconds: colour, noise, speed. Then they are gone round the bend, and for a full minute a cloud of dust hangs in the air where they were. The spectators blink and wipe their faces. The race was loud and brief. The dust stays.

Many human lives look like that race. Years of running after money, status, approval and pleasure. They are fast and full of noise. And when they end, what is left for the face to carry? If Allah was not in the race at all, only dust.

The commentators explain these as the faces of those who rejected faith. One adds that dust and smoke will cover them. Another records a report about the creatures turned to dust at the end of judgement. That dust, it says, will be put on the faces of the disbelievers. However it happens, the image is of a face covered by the residue of what it chased.

This ayah sits right after the shining, laughing faces. Both groups ran through life. One ran towards Allah and came out uncovered like the dawn. The other ran after everything else, and came out covered in the dust of its own running.

The question is simple. What are you running after, and what will it leave on your face?

The full entry has 4 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.