“Death has come with all that it entails.” (1)

“Hearts, that Day, will tremble, their eyes humbled. They say, ‘Are we really to be restored to our former state, even after we have become decayed bones?’ They say, ‘Then that would be a losing return.’”

“On that Day, hearts will tremble”: fearful, anxious, and agitated. The term wajif is used of rapid movement because of its intense agitation. One may say that the heart wajafa or wajaba, that is, it trembled or palpitated. Mujahid said: “Fearful.” Al-Suddi said: “Removed from their places,” like His saying: “When the hearts are at the throats” (Ghafir 40:18).

“Their eyes humbled”: abased, as in His saying, “humbled by abasement” (al-Shura 42:45).

“They say”—that is, those who deny the Resurrection, when they are told, “You will be raised after death”: “Are we really to be restored to our former state?” That is, to the first condition and beginning of the matter—shall we become alive after death as we once were? The Arabs say, “So-and-so returned to his hafirah,” meaning that he returned from where he came. In their usage, hafirah is a name for the beginning of a thing, and its first stage (2).

Some said that hafirah means the surface of the earth in which their graves are dug. It is called hafirah in the sense of “that which is dug,” just as “a pleasing life” means a life that is pleasing.

It was also said that it is called hafirah because it is the resting place of hooves (3): “Are we really to be returned to the earth, then raised as a new creation, walking upon it?” Ibn Zayd said: “Hafirah means Hell.”

“Even after we have become decayed bones?” Nafi‘, Ibn ‘Amir, al-Kisa’i, and Ya‘qub recited the first phrase as a question—“Are we indeed?”—but recited “when” without interrogation. Abu Ja‘far recited the opposite, while the remaining reciters read both phrases interrogatively. Hamzah, al-Kisa’i, and Abu ‘Amr recited “hollow bones,” while the others recited “decayed bones.” Both are dialectal variants, like “greedy” and “cautious.” Both mean worn-out. Some distinguished between them, saying that “decayed” refers to bones that have become worn away, while “hollow” refers to bones through which the wind passes and produces a sound.

“They say”—that is, the deniers—“Then that would be a losing return”: a ruinous return. That is, if we are returned after death—