Al-rajfa (the quake)

For Rida, the rajfa is a strong shaking and upheaval, and he judges that here it means an earthquake. The Qur'an describes the punishment of Shu'ayb's people as a rajfa in Al-A'raf 91, and as a cry in Surah Hud. ¹

Rida explains that the word rajfa, in its singular form, comes from the root meaning movement and agitation, and that it applies to the trembling of the earth, which is an earthquake, and to the trembling of hearts from terror. He prefers the first meaning here, so the sense is that an earthquake seized them, and they were found motionless in their homes. ¹

Rida notes that the rajfa in al-A'raf corresponds to the cry in Hud, as the punishment of Thamud is mentioned in both surahs, and that he showed how the two are reconciled at another point in the commentary. He also mentions, in one place, that the punishment of Salih's people was also a rajfa. ¹

Rida observes that Shu'ayb is described in al-A'raf as the brother of Midian, but is not described this way in al-Shu'ara', where he was sent to the people of the thicket, who are not the people of Midian. He relates a report from Ibn Abbas that the people of the thicket were the inhabitants of a thicket between the seashore and Midian. ¹