At-Takwir 81:1
Sūrat al-Takwīr opens with twelve consecutive "idhā" (when) clauses.
إِذَا ٱلشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ
When the sun is rolled up
At-Takwir 81:1 · Translation: talal-itani
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Each clause is a scene of the eschatological day. The first three are cosmic. "Kuwwirat" — to be wrapped up, as a turban is wrapped or a scroll rolled. "Inkadarat" — to crumble into dust, to scatter. "Suyyirat" — to be set in motion, displaced from place. Three verbs, the whole summary of a cosmic ending.
Observation
The lifespan of stars is well-established in modern astrophysics. Medium-mass stars like our Sun, once their hydrogen fuel is exhausted, enter a "red giant" phase, then shed their outer layers and collapse into white dwarfs — shrinking into themselves as though "wrapped up." More massive stars scatter in supernova explosions. The verbs "kuwwirat" and "inkadarat" can be set alongside the vocabulary of these two endings. The verse does not say when; it says that stars are not eternal.
Exegesis
A report attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās glosses "kuwwirat" as the Sun's light being gathered up and extinguished. Exegetes also remark on the linguistic density of these scenes: twelve short clauses stacked without connective particles, letting the speed of the Day be felt in the reader's breath. The verse is an invitation — whoever contemplates this ending sees today differently.
Sources
Tafsīr: report attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās (classical tafsīr transmissions); Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān. Science: astrophysics — stellar evolution (red giant, white dwarf, supernova; consensus).