Surah Al-Mursalat (The Emissaries): Verse 9

وَإِذَا السَّمَاءُ فُرِّجَتْ (And when the sky is split open,)

The word فُرِّجَتْ (furrijat) means شقّت (shiqqat - split/cloven).

It is said: Farraja-hu Allahu fa-nfaraja (Allah split it, and it split open). Everything that is split is called a farj (a split/cleft).

Therefore, the meaning here is: شقّت (it was split open).

This is similar to:

• The verse: وَإِذَا السَّمَاءُ انشَقَّتْ (And when the sky is split asunder) (Al-Inshiqaq: 1).
• The verse: وَيَوْمَ تَشَقَّقُ السَّمَاءُ بِالْغَمَامِ (And on the Day the heaven is split open with the clouds) (Al-Furqan: 25).

Ibn Qutaybah said its meaning is فُتِحَتْ (futihat - it was opened), similar to the phrase: wa futihati as-samaa' (and the sky was opened).

A poet said:

Al-Fārijī bābu al-amīr al-mubham (The one who opens the ambiguous gate of the prince)

وَإِذَا الْجِبَالُ نُسِفَتْ (And when the mountains are blown away,)