And when fear comes, you see them looking at you
فَإِذَا جَاءَ الْخَوْفُ رَأَيْتَهُمْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَيْكَ [Al-Ahzab 33:19]
Fear comes
جاء الخوف
Fear is not an entity that comes, but rather a meaning that comes. Coming applies to meanings and to entities; you say "the illness came to him" and you say "Zayd came." Here, the coming is attributed to the meaning. From whom does the fear come? It is general: whenever fear comes, whether it is from the enemies who arrived in the city, or fear from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding what he learns of their conditions—they fear that Allah the Exalted will expose them through their actions, or that He will unleash His Messenger upon them. Yes, he says:
And when fear comes, you see them looking at you
فَإِذَا جَاءَ الْخَوْفُ رَأَيْتَهُمْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَيْكَ [Al-Ahzab 33:19]
Is the address here to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), or to everyone to whom the address is directed? It is possible that it is to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and that is the most likely, and it is possible that it is to everyone to whom the address is directed. And his saying:
You see them looking
رَأَيْتَهُمْ يَنْظُرُونَ
The seeing here is visual, and accordingly, it does not take more than one object, which is the pronoun "them," and the clause
Looking
يَنْظُرُونَ
is a state (hal) from the pronoun "them." You saw them in the state of them looking at you. They look at you
Their eyes rolling
تَدُورُ أَعْيُنُهُمْ
because the fearful person usually focuses on whom? On the source of fear, whether it is a person or persons; their gaze is directed toward the source of fear, and their eye rolls without a sound gaze, meaning it seems to roll involuntarily due to the intensity of fear. Then, after comparing their eyes, he compared their state, saying:
Like one overcome by death
كَالَّذِي يُغْشَى عَلَيْهِ مِنَ الْمَوْتِ
The author said
"like the gaze or like the rolling". If
Like the one
كالذي
refers back to
Looking
ينظرون
, we understand "gaze," and if it refers back to
Their eyes rolling
تدور أعينهم
, we understand "rolling." But what contradicts the Qur'an is the first, "gaze," as Allah the Exalted said in the context of battle:
looking at you with a look of one overcome by death
يَنظُرُونَ إِلَيْكَ نَظَرَ الْمَغْشِيِّ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ الْمَوْتِ
[Muhammad: 20]. And perhaps we can say:
They look at you
يَنظُرُونَ إِلَيْكَ
their eyes revolving like one being overcome by death
تدور أعينهم كالذي يغشى عليه من الموت [Al-Ahzab 33:19]
It does not refer back to the gaze, but rather to their state, meaning like a person overcome by death; they cannot speak. Yes, because their necks dried up and their blood receded due to fear. When fear comes, their eyes change and their conditions change as well, like one overcome by death. One who is overcome by death undoubtedly turns pale and is usually unable to speak.
like one who is overcome by death
كالذي يغشى عليه من الموت
by death
من الموت
The author said
"from their intoxication", meaning his intoxication.
is overcome by death
يغشى عليه من الموت
Who
من
Here, "min" (from) indicates causality. Does "min" indicate causality? The answer is yes, it occurs in many places. Its original usage is for beginning, to the extent that some grammarians claimed that in every place it indicates beginning, so even when it indicates causality, they say it is for the beginning of the cause. But the correct view is what Ibn Malik and other grammarians held, that it occurs for many meanings. He said
"Some, and between, and beginning in places, from, and it may come for the beginning of times
And Zayd in negation and its like, so Fajr is indefinite, as is the one fleeing from a pursuer"