وَظَنَّ أَنَّهُ الفِراقُ

And he knows that it is the [time of] parting.

EXEGESIS

Ẓanna (he knows): see the commentary on verse 25.

EXPOSITION

Here also ẓann should be used in the meaning of knowing.^{‎[1]Tibyan, 10/201; Tabari, 29/122.} At the moment of death the dying person knows that it is the moment of parting (firāq) and he will leave behind his family and loved ones, his wealth, his body, this worldly life, and all that is in it.^{‎[2]See Tabrisi, 10/606.}

However, one can argue that ẓann can also be understood here in its meaning of surmising, as if to say that those who are attached to the transitory life (verse 20) are unwilling to truly accept their mortality, and even at that moment of death still have a part of them that hopes that they would not die and leave this world.^{‎[3]See also Razi, 30/735.} The word ẓann hence captures the attitude that many such people have towards death. We all know that we will one day die, yet for many the thought of death is far removed and abstract, shut out through the power of wilful ignorance. Only the moment of death makes it tangible, whether one is dying or witnessing someone die.

The verse captures the reason why death is so difficult for most people. The attachment to the worldly life is what makes separation and leaving everything behind difficult; the more attached a person is to the dunyā, the harder it will be to part with it.

In comparison, for the pious, death is not leaving behind pleasurable and desirable things, but on the contrary it is to be freed from the constraints of this world and enter into the joyous pleasures promised to the righteous, to the extent that once they leave, they wished they could inform the living of those blessings: Alas! Had my people only known for what my Lord forgave me and made me one of the honoured ones! (36:26-27).

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. From Jābir ibn Yazīd al-Juʿfī, that he asked Imam al-Bāqir (a) regarding this verse, and the Imam said: ‘He will become certain that it is the time to leave behind the loved ones.’^{‎[4]Kafi, 3/259; Nur, 5/465.}
2. From Imam al-Sajjād (a), when he was asked about death, he said: ‘For the believer, it is like removing filthy, lice-ridden clothes, and unfastening heavy shackles and chains, and exchanging them for the finest of garments with the sweetest scents, the easiest mounts, and the most comforting dwellings. As for the disbeliever, it is like taking off luxurious clothes, and being moved away from familiar abodes, and changing into the filthiest and coarsest of garments, the most desolate dwellings, and the greatest torment.’^{‎[5]Maani, p. 289.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. ‘And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.’^{‎[6]Ecclesiastes 12:7.}

[1] Tibyan, 10/201; Tabari, 29/122.
[2] See Tabrisi, 10/606.
[3] See also Razi, 30/735.
[4] Kafi, 3/259; Nur, 5/465.
[5] Maani, p. 289.
[6] Ecclesiastes 12:7.