Qaaf (The letter Qaaf)

19. And the stupor of death will come in truth [and it is said unto man]: “This is what you escaped at all times!”

Man loses his consciousness at the moment of death;

(“the stupor of death will come in truth”).

The Arabic word sakra denotes the state in which man loses his consciousness and reason. The word tahyid designates escape and evasion.

Man’s fear and anxiety at the moment of death is such that the Holy Qur’an refers to it as

“stupor of death,”

in like manner, the fear of Divine Tribunal on the Day of Resurrection shall lead man to such state that it is elsewhere expressed in the Holy Qur’an¹ as:

“You shall see people as in a drunken state, yet they will not be drunken, but severe will be the torment of God.”

At any rate,

“stupor of death”

is such state of unconsciousness occurring to one in throes of death that it is as if man loses his consciousness and his soul desires to separate from body and the worst state of man is that in which soul departs from body. It will be at that time that Divine Mercy will be bestowed upon believers and veils will be cast from their eyes and they will see the abodes prepared for them.

Thus, the souls of believers willingly turn toward the other world and the angel of death will bear unto them the glad tidings of Paradise and its Bounties. Nonetheless, unfortunate will be disbelievers, hypocrites, and the disobedient perceiving that Divine Wrath, rather than His Mercy, and the angels of torment warn them against Divine torment.

The stupor shall be the inevitable death. The past form of the verb ja’at may refer to the point that death is inevitable and no one may escape it.

Good for those who, in such state, hear the message;

“Come back to your Lord well-pleased and well-pleasing”2 .