Regarding the senses put in verses 2 and 3 that even the...

Regarding the senses put in verses 2 and 3 that even the holy Prophet (S) is told: "And what makes you aware of what the Calamity is", clarifies the fact that this event is so great that no imagination can comprehend it. In any event, many commentators have said that /qari'ah/ is one of the names of the Day of Judgement.

They have not clarified that this sense refers to the events before the Hereafter when this world will be destroyed, the Sun and the Moon will become dark, and the seas will overflow. If it is so, the name selected for the event, Qari'ah, has a clear reason. Or, if the purpose is the second stage, i.e., the resurrection of the dead and the new design in the world of being, the use of the word 'qari'ah' is for the reason that fear and terror of that Day will strike the hearts.

The verses following that verse partly agree with the incident of the world destruction, and partly refer to the resurrection of the dead, but, on the whole, the first probability seems more appropriate, though both incidents, in these verses, are mentioned one after another; (like many other verses of the Qur'an which inform about the Hereafter).

Then, to describe that amazing Day, it says: "(It is) a Day whereon men will be like moths scattered about.” The term /faras/ is the plural form of /farasah/. Many commentators have considered it as meaning 'moths' while some others have rendered it to mean 'locusts'. The meaning of the word, itself, is the former one, of course, so they may have adapted it to the meaning in Surah Qamar, No.

54, verse 7 in which people, on That Day, are likened to 'scattered locusts': “They will come forth - their eyes humbled - from their graves, (torpid) like locusts scattered abroad.” It is probable that likening people to 'moths' is for the reason that the state of moths in a violent storm gives some idea of the confusion, distress, and helplessness of which men are overwhelmed with on the Day of Judgement.

Again, the question arises, here thus: is this confusion, distress and horrible helplessness because of the end of this physical world, or, is it because of the beginning of the spiritual world, the Hereafter? The answer to the question is clearly found in what is said above.