80:38 Abasa (He frowned)

فأما السعداء، فـوجوههم [يومئذ] { مُسْفِرَةٌ } أي: قد ظهر فيها السرور والبهجة، من ما عرفوا من نجاتهم، وفوزهم بالنعيم،

أي يكون الناس هنالك فريقين وجوه مسفرة أي مستنيرة.

The Day of Judgement and the fleeing of the People from Their Relatives during it

Ibn `Abbas said, "As-Sakhkhah is one of the names of the Day of Judgement that Allah has magnified and warned His servants of." Ibn Jarir said, "Perhaps it is a name for the blowing into Trumpet." Al-Baghawi said, "As-Sakhkhah means the thunderous shout of the Day of Judgement. It has been called this because it will deafen the ears. This means that it pierces the hearing to such an extent that it almost deafens the ears."

يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ الْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ - وَأُمِّهِ وَأَبِيهِ - وَصَـحِبَتِهُ وَبَنِيهِ

(That Day shall a man flee from his brother. And from his mother and his father. And from his wife and his children.) meaning, he will see them and then flee from them, and seek to get away from them because horror will be so great and the matter will be so weighty. There is an authentic Hadith related concerning the intercession that states that every one of the great Messengers of firm resolve will be requested to intercede with Allah on behalf of the creation, but each of them will say, "O myself! O myself! Today I will not ask You (O Allah) concerning anyone but myself." Even `Isa bin Maryam will say, "I will not ask Him (Allah) concerning anyone but myself today. I will not even ask Maryam, the woman who gave birth to me." Thus, Allah says,

يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ الْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ - وَأُمِّهِ وَأَبِيهِ - وَصَـحِبَتِهُ وَبَنِيهِ

(That Day shall a man flee from his brother, and from his mother and his father, and from his wife and his children.) Qatadah said, "The most beloved and then the next most beloved, and the closest of kin and then the next closest of kin -- due to the terror of that Day." Allah said,

لِكُلِّ امْرِىءٍ مِّنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيهِ

(Every man that Day will have enough to make him careless of others.) meaning, he will be preoccupied in his business and distracted from the affairs of others. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Ibn `Abbas that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«تُحْشَرُونَ حُفَاةً عُرَاةً مُشَاةً غُرْلًا»

(You will all be gathered barefoot, naked, walking and uncircumcised.) So his wife said, "O Messenger of Allah! Will we look at or see each other's nakedness" The Prophet replied,

«لِكُلِّ امْرِىءٍ مِنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيهِ أو قال: مَا أَشْغَلَهُ عَنِ النَّظَر»

(Every man among them on that Day will have enough (worries) to make him careless of others) -- or he said: (he will be too busy to look.) Ibn `Abbas narrated that the Prophet said,

«تُحْشَرُونَ حُفَاةً عُرَاةً غُرْلًا»

(You will all be gathered barefoot, naked and uncircumcised.) So a woman said, "Will we see or look at each others nakedness" He replied,

«يَا فُلَانَةُ، لِكُلِّ امْرِىءٍ مِنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيه»

(O so-and-so woman! Every man among them on that Day will have enough (worries) to make him careless of others.) At-Tirmidhi said, "This Hadith is Hasan Sahih."

The Faces of the People of Paradise and the People of the Fire on the Day of Judgement

Allah says;

وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ مُّسْفِرَةٌ - ضَـحِكَةٌ مُّسْتَبْشِرَةٌ

(Some faces that Day will be bright (Musfirah), laughing, rejoicing at good news.) meaning, the people will be divided into two parties. There will be faces that are Musfirah, which means bright.

ضَـحِكَةٌ مُّسْتَبْشِرَةٌ

(Laughing, rejoicing at good news.) meaning, happy and pleased due to the joy that will be in their hearts. The good news will be apparent on their faces. These will be the people of Paradise.

وَوُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَلَيْهَا غَبَرَةٌ - تَرْهَقُهَا قَتَرَةٌ

(And other faces that Day will be dust-stained. Darkness (Qatarah) will cover them.) meaning, they will be overcome and covered with Qatarah, which is darkness. Ibn `Abbas said,

تَرْهَقُهَا قَتَرَةٌ

(Darkness (Qatarah) will cover them.) "This means that they (the faces) will be overcome with darkness." Allah said,

أُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْكَفَرَةُ الْفَجَرَةُ

(Such will be the disbelieving, the wicked evildoers.) meaning, they are disbelievers in their hearts, evildoers in their actions. This is as Allah says,

وَلاَ يَلِدُواْ إِلاَّ فَاجِراً كَفَّاراً

(And they will beget none but wicked disbelievers.) (71:27) This is the end of the Tafsir of Surat `Abasa, and to Allah all praise and thanks are due.

On that day some faces will be shining radiant

يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ‌ الْمَرْ‌ءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ (the Day when one will flee from his brother...80:34). This depicts the scene when all the people will have gathered in the Plain of Gathering. Each person will be worried about himself, and the situation will be so horrifying and tense that it will make people heedless of anything around them. In the world, there are relationships between people that make one willing to lay down his life for the other, but on the Day of Resurrection there will be such horror and chaos that they will be unable to take care of anyone. In fact, even if one sees the other in front of him, he will turn away from him. They will try to flee from their brothers, from their mothers and fathers, from their spouses and their children. They will not be able to help any of them in the Hereafter, despite the natural attachment they had with them in the world. Normally, one is more anxious in this world about his parents than about his brothers, and he is more anxious about his wife and children than about his parents. Keeping this in view, the relationships, in the present verse, are arranged from lower order to higher order.

The Chapter ends on a note of warning to disbelievers that if they reject the Qur’ anic message and persist in opposition to the Holy Prophet ﷺ they will have to face a day of reckoning when misery, shame and ignominy will be their lot. The righteous believers, however, will reside in Gardens of Bliss, their faces beaming with joy and happiness.