Quran Universe
56:84

وَأَنتُمۡ حِينَئِذٖ تَنظُرُونَ

Waantum heenaithin tanthuroona

And you are at that time looking on -

Word by word
  1. وَأَنتُمۡAnd you
  2. حِينَئِذٖ(at) that time
  3. تَنظُرُونَlook on
Al-Waqi'ah · 56:84Makkah

And you are looking on, helpless.

Watching, but powerless

At the bedside
familywatching
see
the dying onein the stupor of death
What you can do
fix itwe always find a way
only watch and praythe limit of our power

Ibn Kathir says you are looking at the dying person, witnessing the stupor of death. The verse reminds the listeners of what many of them had already seen with their own eyes.

You hold your grandmother's hand in a ward at 3 a.m. The nurse is kind and the doctors have tried. You are looking on. All that is left is to pray.

I'll handle death when it comes to my family.

At death I can only watch, so I prepare my heart now.

Try this

Make dua today, by name, for someone you love who is ill or elderly.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 56:83)

Then why do you not (intervene) when it reaches Al-Hulqum (83)And you at the moment are looking (84)But We are nearer to him than you, but you see not (85)Then why do you not – if you are not Madini (86)Return the soul, if you are truthful (87)

When the Soul reaches the Throat at the Time of Death, it cannot be brought back; this proves Reckoning shall occur

Allah the Exalted said,

فَلَوْلَا إِذَا بَلَغَتِ

(Then why do you not (intervene) when it reaches), in reference to the soul,

الْحُلْقُومَ

(Al-Hulqum), i.e., the throat, at the time of death. Allah the Exalted said in other Ayat,

كَلَّا إِذَا بَلَغَتِ التَّرَاقِيَ - وَقِيلَ مَنْ ۜ رَاقٍ - وَظَنَّ أَنَّهُ الْفِرَاقُ - وَالْتَفَّتِ السَّاقُ بِالسَّاقِ - إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ يَوْمَئِذٍ الْمَسَاقُ

(Nay, when (the soul) reaches to the collar bone, and it will be said: "Who can cure him (and save him from death)?" And he will conclude that it was (the time) of parting (death); And one leg will be joined with another leg (shrouded). The drive will be on that Day to your Lord (Allah).)(75:26-30) Allah said here,

وَأَنْتُمْ حِينَئِذٍ تَنْظُرُونَ 

(And you at the moment are looking,) at the dying person and witnessing the stupor of death that he is experiencing,

وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْكُمْ 

(But We are nearer to him than you,) with Our angels,

 وَلَٰكِنْ لَا تُبْصِرُونَ

(but you see not.) you cannot see the angels. Allah the Exalted said in another Ayah,

وَهُوَ الْقَاهِرُ فَوْقَ عِبَادِهِ ۖ وَيُرْسِلُ عَلَيْكُمْ حَفَظَةً حَتَّىٰ إِذَا جَاءَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ تَوَفَّتْهُ رُسُلُنَا وَهُمْ لَا يُفَرِّطُونَ - ثُمَّ رُدُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ مَوْلَاهُمُ الْحَقِّ ۚ أَلَا لَهُ الْحُكْمُ وَهُوَ أَسْرَعُ الْحَاسِبِينَ

(He is the Irresistible over His servants, and He sends guardians (angels) over you, until when death approaches one of you, Our messengers (angel of death and his assistants) take his soul, and they never neglect their duty. Then they are returned to Allah, their true Protector. Surely, for Him is the judgement and He is the swiftest in taking account.)(6:61-62) Allah's statement,

فَلَوْلَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ غَيْرَ مَدِينِينَ - تَرْجِعُونَهَا

(Then why do you not – if you are not Madinin – return the soul,) means, 'Will you not return this soul, that has reached the throat, to its body as it used to be, if you are exempt from the reckoning and recompense?'

Sa'id bin Jubayr and Al-Hasan Al-Basri said:

فَلَوْلَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ غَيْرَ مَدِينِينَ

(Then why do you not – if you are not Madinin...), "If you do not believe that you will be reckoned, recompensed, resurrected and punished, then why do you not return this soul to its body?" Mujahid said that,

غَيْرَ مَدِينِينَ 

(...if you are not Madinin), means, "if you are not certain."