Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:78
So the earthquake seized them, and they became within their home [corpses] fallen prone.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word: فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الرَّجْفَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا فِي دَارِهِمْ جَاثِمِينَ (78) ("Then the shock seized them, and they lay prostrate in their dwelling") (7:78).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Then there seized those of Thamūd who had killed the she-camel (the shock), which is the cry.
And "al-rajfa" (the shock) is of the form faʿla, derived from one's saying: "rajafa bi-fulān kadhā yarjufu rajfan", and that is when he sets something in motion and makes it shake, as al-Akhṭal said:
Should you see me, bent over by the grayness of old age, like the eagle tottering, while man is wearied.
By "al-rajfa" is meant here the cry that made them shake and set them in motion toward destruction, for Thamūd perished by the cry, according to what the scholars have mentioned.
And in agreement with what we have said concerning that, the exegetes spoke.
Mention of who said that:
14828 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: "al-rajfa", he said: the cry.
14829 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
14830 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (then the shock seized them), and that is the cry.
14831 — Al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, he said: Abū Saʿd related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid: (then the shock seized them), he said: the cry.
And His word: (and they lay prostrate in their dwelling), He says: and those of Thamūd whom Allah destroyed lay (in their dwelling), that is, in their land in which they perished and in their town.
For this reason He used "al-dār" (the dwelling) in the singular and did not put it in the plural, so that He did not say "in their dwellings." It is, however, also possible that the dwellings are intended, but that He applied the singular form to the whole, as it is said: وَالْعَصْرِ * إِنَّ الإِنْسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ ("By time. Verily, man is in loss") [al-ʿAṣr: 1-2].
And His word: (prostrate, jāthimīn), that is: fallen, struck dead, without movement, because there was no longer any soul in them, since they had perished. And the Arabs say of one who kneels upon his knees: "jāthim", and from this is the word of Jarīr:
I recognized the remote place, and I recognized of it the cooking-pot stones, like crouching kites.
And in agreement with what we have said concerning that, the exegetes spoke.
Mention of who said that:
14832 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word: (and they lay prostrate in their dwelling), he said: dead.
