His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And the Day We will gather from every nation a throng of those who deny Our signs, and they will be driven in rows﴾ ﴿Until, when they come, He will say, "Did you deny My signs while you encompassed them not in knowledge? Or what were you doing?"﴾ ﴿And the word will befall them because of what they wronged, and they will not speak﴾ ﴿Have they not seen that We made the night for them to rest therein and the day sight-giving? Indeed, in that are signs for a people who believe﴾ ﴿And the Day the Horn is blown, and whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth will be terrified, except whom Allah wills. And all will come to Him humbled﴾

The meaning: And remember the Day, and this is a reminder of the Day of Resurrection. "We will gather" means: We will assemble, and ﴿from every nation﴾ means: from every generation of people that has passed; because every era has not been devoid of disbelievers in Allah since the separation of the children of Adam. And "the throng" refers to a large group of people, and the meaning is: of those whose state is that they are denying Our signs. And "they will be driven" means: they will be restrained in the procession, that is: the first of them will be held back from the last of them, as stated by Qatadah and others. And from this is the restraint of the flock. In this, Abdul Sharif ibn Abdul Uzza says:

؎ So they came, a cold shower, and at times like a flood, riding our restraining force.

Then Allah, the Exalted, informed about the stopping of the disbelievers on the Day of Resurrection and His questioning them in a manner of reproach: ﴿Until when they come﴾ the verse. Then He said, ﴿Or what were you doing?﴾ meaning to fulfill the evidence, that is: if you have any deeds or evidence, then bring them forth. Abu Haywah read: "Or what were you doing?" with a softened 'm'.

Then He informed about the occurrence of the word upon them, meaning the enforcement of punishment and the certainty of decree, and that they will not speak with an argument, because it is not for them. And this is in a place among the places of the Resurrection, and in a group of people; because the Qur'an implies that they will speak with arguments in other than this place.

Then He mentioned the verse about the night and its being a time of rest and tranquility for all living beings, and the important thing in that is the children of Adam, and the day being sight-giving, that is: having sight. This is as you say: a standing night and a fasting day, and the meaning of that is: it is established therein. Likewise, this is its meaning: it is sight-giving therein, and for that reason it is: having sight. Then it is permissible to say: "sight-giving," and it is on the analogy of a pleasing life. And the signs in that are for the believers and the disbelievers; they are a sign for all of them in itself, but in terms of benefiting from it and the beneficial sight, it is only for the believers, and for that reason they were specifically mentioned.

Then He mentioned, glorified and exalted is He, the Day of blowing in the Horn, which is the Horn according to the majority of the ummah, and it is what the hadiths imply. Mujahid said: It is like the shape of a trumpet. A group said: The Horns are the plural of Horn, like date and dates, and ember and embers. The first is more famous. In the commonly transmitted hadiths, it is stated that Israfil, peace be upon him, is the one who has the Horn, and that he has knelt on one knee and raised the other and tilted his cheek and has taken the Horn, waiting for when he will be commanded and permitted to blow. This blowing mentioned in this verse is the blowing of terror. Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the angel has three blowings: the blowing of terror, which is the terror of the life of this world and is not the greater terror, the blowing of swoon, and the blowing of resurrection from the graves. A group said: It is only two blowings, as if they have combined the terror and the swoon into one blowing, and they deduced that from His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'Then another blowing will be blown, and behold, they will be standing, looking' [Az-Zumar: 68]. They said: 'Another' is only said in the second instance.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The first saying is more correct, and 'another' can be said in the third instance, as in the saying of Rabia ibn Maqrur: 'And I have interceded for them with the last of the third.' And from His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'And Manat, the third, the other' [An-Najm: 20]. As for the poet's saying: 'I made for it two sticks of * * * from nasham and another from thumamah,' it is possible that he means second or third, so there is no proof in it.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'So they will be terrified' - and it is a matter that has not occurred - is considered an indication of the correctness of its occurrence. This is the meaning of placing the past in the position of the future. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'Except for whom Allah wills' is an exception for those whom Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has decreed from His angels, His prophets, and the martyrs of His servants that they will not be affected by the terror of the blowing in the Horn. Abu Huraira said: It is for the martyrs, and Al-Rummani mentioned that it is the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. And Muqatil said: It is for Jibril, Mikail, Israfil, and the Angel of Death. If the greater does not affect them, they are more deserving that this does not affect them.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is at a time of anticipation, and that is at a time of safety; for it is the sealing of Hell upon its people.

And the majority of the reciters read: 'And all will come to Him humbled' in the form of the active participle. Hamzah and Hafs (p. 564) from Asim read: 'They came to Him' in the past tense, which is the reading of Ibn Mas'ud and the people of Kufa. Qatadah read: 'He came to Him' in the singular, following the wording of 'all.' And to this reading, Al-Zajjaj referred but did not mention it.

And 'the humbled' is the submissive and obedient. Ibn Abbas and Ibn Zayd said: The humbled is the one who is humbled. Al-Hasan read: 'They humbled' without an alif. The narrations have agreed that the exception in this verse is intended for the martyrs; because they are alive with their Lord, provided for. They are deserving of the terror because they are human, but they have been favored with safety on that day.