(فأخذتهم الرجفة)
Al-Farra and Al-Zajjaj said: It means the intense earthquake. Mujahid and Al-Suddi said: It is the loud cry (al-sayhah). The two opinions are reconciled by the possibility that the earthquake seized them from beneath them, and the loud cry from above them. Some said: *Al-rajfah* is the palpitating and trembling of the heart until it ceases. It is mentioned in another place as "the loud cry" and in another as "the overwhelming event" (al-taghiyah). There is no contradiction between these, as some heretics have claimed; for the great, extraordinary loud cry caused the trembling of their hearts. Because of its enormity and its departure from the accustomed limit, it is called *al-taghiyah* (the overwhelming), because *al-tughyan* (transgression) is the exceeding of the limit, as in His saying: "Indeed, when the water transgressed (tugha), We carried you..." Or, it may be said that the destruction by that means was because of their transgression (*tughyan*), which is the meaning of *al-taghiyah*. This seizure is not the immediate effect of what they said, but occurred after the precursors of the punishment had already befallen them over the three days, as you will come to know, God willing; the particle *fa* does not preclude this.
(فأصبحوا في دارهم جاثمين)
They were extinguished (hamidin)—dead, with no movement in them. The root of *al-juthum* is kneeling upon the knees. Abu Ubaydah said: *Al-juthum* for people and birds is equivalent to the kneeling (*al-bruk*) of camels. Thus, the *juthum* of a bird is its settling upon the ground in a state of stillness at night. "Became" (*asbahu*) may be complete, in which case *jathimin* (kneeling/fallen) is a circumstantial qualifier (*hal*); or it may be incomplete, in which case *jathimin* is the predicate (*khabar*), and in both estimations, the prepositional phrase is connected to it. It was also said: it is the predicate, and *jathimin* is the circumstantial qualifier, but this is baseless, as it would lead to the state of their being in their house being the intended essence of the information. The meaning of "house" (*dar*) is the city, as in your saying "the house of war" (*dar al-harb*) and "the house of Islam" (*dar al-islam*). It is gathered in another verse with the meaning of each one's specific dwelling. Al-Naysaburi mentioned that wherever the earthquake (*rajfah*) is mentioned, the "house" is singular, and wherever the loud cry (*sayhah*) is mentioned, it is plural, because the loud cry came from the sky—as is the case in most narrations, not from the earth as has been said—so its reach is wider and more profound than the earthquake; thus, each was paired with what is most appropriate for it. So ponder this.
