Tafsir of Hud 11:106

(As for those who were wretched) meaning: for whom wretchedness was decreed in advance, (they will be in the Fire) meaning: they will be established therein, (they will have therein zafir (wailing/groaning) and shahiq (sobbing/braying)).

The scholars of linguistics, both of the Kufan and Basran schools, stated: Zafir is equivalent to the initial sound of a donkey, and shahiq is equivalent to the end of its braying. Ru’bah said: "It rattled in the chest as a neigh, or he sobbed until it was said: 'He is braying, yet he did not bray.'" Ibn Faris stated: Zafir is the expelling of breath, and shahiq is its inhalation. Al-Shammakh said regarding a wild ass: "A long stretch of melodious sound, or its voice is zafir, followed by a rattling shahiq." Al-Raghib said: Zafir is the repetition of breath until the ribs swell from it, derived from the phrase "so the man groaned" (zafara) when he carries a heavy burden with difficulty, causing his breath to fluctuate. From this, the female water-carriers are called zawafir. Shahiq is the prolongation of the zafir, which is the intake of breath, while zafir is its extension. Its origin is from a "towering" (shahiq) mountain, meaning one that reaches the extreme in height.

It is narrated from al-Sa’ib that zafir belongs to donkeys and shahiq to mules, though this is strange. Both terms are intended to signify their distress and anguish, likening their state to that of one whose heart is overcome by heat and whose spirit is constricted within, or likening their voices to the voices of donkeys. Thus, the speech contains a representative metaphor (isti’arah tamthiliyyah) or an explicit metaphor (isti’arah musarrahah). It is narrated from Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with them both—that he said: "It means regret, loud breathing, and weeping that does not cease."

Al-Hasan read shuqu with a damma on the shin, using it transitively, as it is said "Allah made him wretched" (shaqahu Allahu Ta’ala), just as it is said "He made him miserable" (ashqahu).

The sentence (they will have therein zafir) etc., is an initiation of a new discourse, as if a questioner asked: "What is their state therein?" It was then said: "They have therein such and such." It is also permissible for the clause to be in the position of an accusative state (hal) referring to the Fire or to the pronoun in the prepositional phrase, as in His, the Almighty’s, saying...