It is related from Qatadah that, regarding this verse—“On the Day when a person will flee from his brother, and his mother and father, and his wife and children” (1)—he said: “Abel will flee from Cain; the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, will flee from his mother; Abraham, peace be upon him, from his father; Lot, peace be upon him, from his wife; and Noah, peace be upon him, from his son.” (2)

“On that Day, each person will have concerns enough to occupy him (37). Faces on that Day will be radiant (38), laughing and rejoicing (39); while other faces on that Day will be covered with dust (40), overwhelmed by gloom (41).”

“On that Day, each person will have concerns enough to occupy him”: that is, concerns which will preoccupy him from attending to anyone else’s affairs.

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Shurayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Tha‘labi informed us; al-Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah informed me; Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz narrated to us; Ibn Abi Uways narrated to us; my father narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn Abi Ayyash, from Ata ibn Yasar, from Sawdah, the wife of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The people will be resurrected barefoot, naked, and uncircumcised. Sweat will have bridled them and reached their earlobes.” I said, “O Messenger of Allah, what shame! Will we be looking at one another?” He replied, “The people will be too preoccupied. On that Day, each person will have concerns enough to occupy him.” (3)

“Faces on that Day will be radiant”: bright and shining. “Laughing”: out of happiness. “Rejoicing”: delighted at the honor they have received from Allah, exalted is He. “While other faces on that Day will be covered with dust”: blackness and the despondency of distress and sorrow (4). “Overwhelmed by gloom”: darkness and murkiness will cover and envelop them.

Ibn Abbas said: “Humiliation will cover them.” Ibn Zayd said: “The difference between dust and gloom is that gloom is the dust that rises and reaches the sky, whereas dust is what remains lower down upon the ground.”