إِن كانَت إِلّا صَيحَةً واحِدَةً فَإِذا هُم خامِدونَ

It was but a single cry, and behold, they were stilled [like burnt ashes]!

EXEGESIS

Khāmidūn (stilled) is the plural of khāmid, which means a silent person whose voice is not heard. It also signifies being still or motionless, having disposed and submitted himself to an affair or event. This verse means they became silent and dead like extinguished ashes. It is also used when the fire is subsided and its flaming is ceased, while its embers remain unextinguished.

EXPOSITION

This verse is an answer to a hypothetical implicit question: what was the cause of their destruction? It was but a single cry (ṣayḥatan wāḥidah). The indefinite noun is used, which indicates only one debasing and silencing blast caused their sudden silence and death. After it, neither a voice was heard from them nor a movement was sensed from them.^{‎[1]Mizan, 17/80.}

Regarding the type of cry from the sky that destroyed them, it could have been the blast of a thunderbolt from the clouds that caused an earthquake and killed everyone, or the blast of a horrible, devastating earthquake from inside the earth that caused lethal waves killing everyone. Regardless of its type, it was a sudden, annihilating sound.^{‎[2]Amthal, 14/167.}

The word ṣayḥah has been used in the Quran in thirteen places. Depending on the context, it signifies a thunderous blast, an awful cry, a shout, a blast, and the cry of the people. It appears thrice in this surah. Apart from this verse, it appears in verse 49 indicating the destruction of the earth when everyone will be annihilated, and in verse 53 indicating the cry of resurrection.

Other nations who were seized by a cry were the nation of Prophet Ṣāliḥ (a), The cry seized those who were wrongdoers, and they lay lifeless prostrate in their homes (11:67); the nation of Prophet Shuʿayb (a), And when Our edict came, we delivered Shuʿayb and the faithful who were with him by a mercy from Us. And the cry seized those who were wrongdoers, whereat they lay lifeless prostrate in their homes (11:94); the nation of Prophet Lot (a), So the cry seized them at sunrise (15:73), and the people of Thamūd, So the cry seized them at dawn (15:83).

Ṣayḥah could be a cry or the physical sound of a heavenly command that opens the doors of various types of destruction. By comparing the verses, those nations which experienced the ṣayḥah were destroyed through different types of destruction followed by the cry.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Rāzī mentions that their silence resembled an extinguished fire because their rivalry and arrogance were based on two heats of desires: the flare of their anger and the heat of their lust. Their extreme anger appeared in murdering a believer who was advising them and the fire of their lust blinded them from believing in eternal punishment; these characteristics made them arrogant and tyrannical, similar to the fire and the one who was created from it. Therefore, this punishment extinguished that fire inside them, becoming like ashes. Even the instant distinguishing of their fire by the cry resembles the quick blow of a puff on the burning candle or lamp, which snuffs out the fire quickly.^{‎[3]Razi, 26/269.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. He will protect his faithful ones, but the wicked will disappear in the darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone. Those who fight against the LORD will be shattered. He thunders against them from heaven; the LORD judges throughout the earth.^{‎[4]1 Sam 2:9-10.}

[1] Mizan, 17/80.
[2] Amthal, 14/167.
[3] Razi, 26/269.
[4] 1 Sam 2:9-10.