يَوْمَ يُنفَخُ فِى ٱلصُّورِ وَنَحْشُرُ ٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ يَوْمَئِذٍ زُرْقًا · يَتَخَٰفَتُونَ بَيْنَهُمْ إِن لَّبِثْتُمْ إِلَّا عَشْرًا · نَّحْنُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يَقُولُونَ إِذْ يَقُولُ أَمْثَلُهُمْ طَرِيقَةً إِن لَّبِثْتُمْ إِلَّا يَوْمًا
Yawma yunfakhu fi'ṣ-ṣūri wa naḥshuru'l-mujrimīna yawmaʾidhin zurqā · Yatakhāfatūna baynahum in labithtum illā ʿashrā · Naḥnu aʿlamu bimā yaqūlūna idh yaqūlu amthaluhum ṭarīqatan in labithtum illā yawmā
"The day the horn is blown — on that day We shall gather the criminals blue-eyed. · They will speak low among themselves: 'You stayed no more than ten.' · We know best what they say, when the most exemplary of them in his way will say: 'You stayed no more than a day.'"
| Reading | What zurqā is |
|---|---|
| 1 | The colour of the eyes — the eyes turning from fear or from punishment |
| 2 | The colour of the bodies — a bluish tinge from thirst and terror |
| 3 | A defect of sight — the eye's becoming unable to make out light |
I record this as an observation: on whichever reading, the verse names that day by a colour. And this lies in the same field as the gathering aʿmā (blind) that will come at the end of the sūra (124). Both verses give the gathering with a quality having to do with the eye. This is an overlap that can be verified from the text.
The root خ-ف-ت: to drop the voice, to lower it. Form VI, takhāfut: to speak with one another in lowered voices.
| Verse | Expression | What |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Yaʿlamu's-sirra wa akhfā | The secret of the secret is known |
| 62 | Wa asarrū'n-najwā | Whispering is concealed |
| 103 | Yatakhāfatūna baynahum | Speaking in lowered voices |
| 108 | Fa-lā tasmaʿu illā hamsā | The faintest sound |
And the one who gives the second estimate is described: amthaluhum ṭarīqatan — "the most exemplary of them in his way".
Amthal — an elative from the root mithl: "most exemplary, most correct". And the word ṭarīqa occurred in the sixty-third verse: wa yadhhabā bi-ṭarīqatikumu'l-muthlā. The same two words, in two different places.
I record this as an observation: what is defended in this world as "the most exemplary way" and the man named in the hereafter as "the soundest in judgement" are designated by the same words. This is a verbal overlap; I draw no connection of meaning.
And the work of the estimates must be recorded, and I give this as my own reading: both estimates are wrong — and the verse does not say which is right. The only thing it says is that the one thought soundest names the shortest span. That is, the measure is not the length of the time but how short it looks when one turns and looks back.
The same measure was treated at al-Aḥqāf on 46/35 (ka-annahum yawma yarawna mā yūʿadūna lam yalbathū illā sāʿatan min nahār), and it was recorded there: the measure is taken from the daytime — that is, from the time a person passes awake and aware. I rely on that treatment.