And when the most severe thing that is to be feared is the Day of Resurrection, which they deny, it caused them to follow their desires. Allah, the Most High, said: "So are they waiting?" meaning: they are waiting. However, He stripped it to indicate the severity of its proximity: "except for the Hour." And when it was as if it was said: what are they waiting for regarding it? He replaced it with His saying: "that it should come to them," meaning: it should stand over them. And He expressed it with 'coming' to increase the fear: "suddenly," meaning: unexpectedly, without any awareness of it or preparation for it.

And when this indicated further proximity, and the coming of the signs of a thing is a clearer indication of its nearness along with indicating its greatness, He said, justifying the suddenness: "Indeed, the signs have come." And it indicated strength by mentioning the action, so He said: "The signs have come," meaning: its signs that warn of it. From the mission of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, "I was sent forth and the Hour is like these two," the splitting of the moon, which indicates the sign of the sun rising from its west, and other than that. And after the preliminaries of a thing, there is nothing but its presence.

And when the coming is from its horrors, they should remember it before its occurrence to act according to what remembrance necessitates. And when it comes, it distracts from everything. It caused His saying, the Most High: "So how," meaning: from where, "will they be when it comes to them?" meaning: the Hour and its specific signs, like the sun rising from its west. "Their remembrance" because they are in the most distracting of occupations. And if they were to be free, they would not remember and act in what would benefit them due to the passing of the time of actions and its conditions, which is acting upon faith in the unseen. And thus is the hour of a person that pertains to him, which is his death and its signs that press upon the remembrance, which are sickness and old age and the like. And among its specific signs for it, which does not benefit with it, is the reaching of the point of gargling.