“Their eyes humbled, they will emerge from the graves as though they were scattered locusts.” (7)

“There have certainly come to them”—that is, the people of Mecca—“accounts” of the denier nations in the Quran, “containing a deterrent”: that is, something at which one must stop. The word muzdajar is a verbal noun meaning restraint: a prohibition and an admonition. One says, zajartuhu and izdajartuhu, when one restrains someone from evil. Its original form is muztajar, with the t changed to a d.

“Profound wisdom”: that is, the Quran is complete wisdom that has reached its utmost limit. “Yet warnings are of no avail”: ma may be negative, meaning, “Warnings are of no avail”; or it may be interrogative, meaning, “Of what avail are warnings when they oppose and deny them?” This is like His saying: “But of what avail are signs and warnings to a people who do not believe?” (Yunus 101) The word nudhur is the plural of nadhir (warner).

“So turn away from them”: that is, turn aside from them. This was abrogated by the verse commanding fighting. It has been said that there is a complete pause here. Others said that “So turn away from them on the Day the Caller will call” means: turn away from them until the Day of the Caller. Muqatil said: He is Israfil, who will blow the Trumpet while standing upon the Rock in Jerusalem’s sacred precinct. “To a dreadful matter”: that is, a terrifying matter, unlike anything they have seen before, which they will find strange because of its enormity. Ibn Kathir read nukr, with the k unvowelled, while the others read it with a short u vowel.

“Their eyes humbled”: Abu Amr, Yaqub, Hamzah, and al-Kisa'i read khashi'an in the singular, while the others read khushsha'an, in the plural, with an initial u vowel and a doubled sh. When active participles precede a plural noun, they may be singular or plural, masculine or feminine. Thus, one may say, marartu bi-rijalin hasanun wujuhuhum, hasanatun wujuhuhum, or hisanun wujuhuhum: “I passed by men whose faces were handsome.” The poet said:

“And men whose faces were handsome,
From Iyad ibn Nizar ibn Ma'add.”

In the recitation of Abd Allah, it is read: khashi'atan absaruhum—that is, their eyes will be abased and submissive at the sight of the punishment.

“They will emerge from the graves”: that is, from their burial places, “as though they were scattered locusts”—dispersed and bewildered. The masculine singular form muntashir is used