Tafsir of Al-Ahzab 33:66

"The Day their faces are turned about in the Fire..."

It is read as tuqallabu (passive voice). It is also read as taqallabu (meaning: they turn themselves about). It is also read as nuqallibu (meaning: We turn them about). It is also read as tuqallibu, with the verb attributed to the Fire (al-saʿīr).

The meaning of "turning them about" is:

• Shifting them in various directions: Just as you see a piece of meat spinning in a pot when it boils, tossed by the boiling from one side to another.
• Altering their states: Changing them from their original forms.
• Casting them into the Fire: In a state of being overturned and inverted.

The faces are specifically mentioned because the face is the most honorable part of a human being’s body. It is also possible that "the face" is an expression for the whole person.

The grammatical governor (nāṣib) of the adverbial phrase "The Day" (yawma) is the verb "they say" (yaqūlūn), or it is an implied verb, which is "Remember" (udhkur). If it is governed by the implied verb, then "they say" (yaqūlūn) functions as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl).

"And they will say, 'Our Lord, indeed we obeyed our masters and our dignitaries, and they led us astray from the [right] way. Our Lord, give them double the punishment and curse them with a great curse.'"