Surah Al-Qamar • 54:7

خُشَّعًا أَبْصَارُهُمْ يَخْرُجُونَ مِنَ الْأَجْدَاثِ كَأَنَّهُمْ جَرَادٌ مُّنتَشِرٌ

“Their eyes will be downcast. They will come out of the graves as if they are locusts spreading (or scattering) out”.

A visual breakdown of the language, imagery and lessons within this verse.

Core imagery of the Ayah

خُشَّعًا أَبْصَارُهُمْ — Eyes downcast

A state of deep humbling and lowering of the gaze on the Day of Judgement.

يَخْرُجُونَ مِنَ الْأَجْدَاثِ — Emerging from graves

The word “الأجداث” emphasizes graves and willful emergence into the plain of resurrection.

كَأَنَّهُمْ جَرَادٌ مُّنتَشِرٌ — Like scattering locusts

An overwhelming, chaotic spread—visually flooding the scene, dispersing in all directions.

Language of خُشُوع — Humbling, lowering, softening

Semantic field and images

  • خُشَّعًا here expresses eyes in a humbled, lowered state—after a worldly life marked by arrogance.
  • Concrete roots: a low-lying hill; a collapsed wall levelled with the ground; a camel’s diminishing hump; soft ground stirred by winds erasing traces; land flat and barren with no vegetation; a mountain depressed and lowered over time.
  • Applied to faces: وُجُوهٌ خَاشِعَةٌ — faces cast down.
  • Applied to voices: lowering and stillness, as in:
    ... وَخَشَعَتِ الْأَصْوَاتُ لِلرَّحْمَٰنِ فَلَا تَسْمَعُ إِلَّا هَمْسًا

    “That Day, everyone will follow [the call of] the Caller [with] no deviation therefrom, and the voices will be stilled before the Most Merciful, so you will not hear except a whisper” (Ta-Ha: 108).

  • Applied to hearts: humility and softening, as in:

    “Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should become humbled at the remembrance of Allah” (Al-Hadid: 16).

Contrast with prior arrogance: Earlier: وَإِن يَرَوْا آيَةً يُعْرِضُوا, and at the end of An-Najm:
وَتَضْحَكُونَ وَلَا تَبْكُونَ َ
وَأَنْتُمْ سَامِدُون
Here: eyes are forcibly lowered and humbled.

Intensity and pattern

خُشَّعًا on the فُعّال (Fu''al) form functions as a hyperbolic pattern (مُبَالَغَة), intensifying the humbling description more than خَاشِع.

Pattern emphasis • مبالغة

Unique usage: Where other places describe eyes as خَاشِعَةٌ, this is the only occurrence of خُشَّعًا—part of the Surah’s overall stronger register about Judgement Day. Earlier in this Surah, نُكُر (Nukur) is stronger than نُكْر (Nukr); likewise here the intensity is elevated.

“الأجداث” — Lexical origin of the graves

Usage: The common word is قَبْر (pl. قُبُور). جَدَث (pl. أَجْدَاث) is used among Yemeni, central Arab, and Northern tribes, with origins linked to the central Arabian tribe of Hudhail—an ancient Arabic source.

“جَرَادٌ” — Locusts: scale, behavior, and mirrored human patterns

Why locusts?

  • Desert locusts are highly mobile and form vast swarms—among the most destructive migratory pests.
  • A small swarm (1 km²) can have about 80 million locusts, consuming in one day what 35,000 people would.
  • Large swarms can reach billions, spreading over thousands of kilometers, overwhelming the visual field—mirroring the scene of emergence.

Behavioral mirror

  • They appear suddenly, en masse, scattering in all directions—echoing “مُّنتَشِرٌ”.
  • Primary drives: reproduce and consume, swarming chaotically.
  • Despite swarming, they are individualistic—concerned with fulfilling their own needs.
  • This parallels: وَاتَّبَعُوا أَهْوَاءَهُمْ — Following lowly desires and implies a lack of self-awareness.

“مُّنتَشِرٌ” — The image of scattering

Evokes spreading and dispersing in every direction—comparable to being “all over the place”: inconsistent beliefs, ideas, and practices—lacking guidance and direction.

From pride to powerlessness — the moral arc

Before: defiance

وَإِن يَرَوْا آيَةً يُعْرِضُوا

وَتَضْحَكُونَ وَلَا تَبْكُونَ (60) وَأَنْتُمْ سَامِدُونَ

Turning away from signs, laughing instead of weeping, heads raised in pride.

Then: utter humbling

Eyes forcibly lowered (خُشَّعًا أَبْصَارُهُمْ), emerging en masse, scattered like locusts—stripped of the pride they paraded in the world.

Concise lexical notes

خُشَّعًا vs خَاشِع

Hyperbolic intensity in 54:7 underscores the verse’s severe tone about the Day of Judgement.

نُكُر vs نُكْر

As with نُكُر earlier in the Surah (stronger than نُكْر), the diction here leans toward intensified expression.

“مُّنتَشِرٌ”

Spreads and scatters—matching the chaotic, directionless movement likened to the people’s inconsistent pursuits.