يَومَ تَرجُفُ الرّاجِفَةُ

تَتبَعُهَا الرّادِفَةُ

The day when the quaker quakes,

and is followed by the successor.

EXEGESIS

Al-rājifah in verse 6 refers to that which shakes violently. Al-rājifah has been used in the Quran to describe the destructive earthquakes that brought an end to disbelieving peoples of the past (7:78, 7:91, 29:37). In verse 6, al-rājifah is taken to be the monumental sound that will cause tremendous upheaval and disarray and that announces the beginning of the events of the Day of Judgement.

Al-rādifah in verse 7 means the great event that follows the first, having an equal degree of importance and impact.^{‎[1]Nemuneh, 26/81.} It comes from the root radifa, which is to come behind or to follow (27:72). Hence, al-rādifah not only becomes the great event that follows the first, al-rājifah, but also the event that is near in the general sense.^{‎[2]Zamakhshari, 4/693.}

EXPOSITION

Verses 6-14 come to answer and complete the statement that began with the five preceding divine oaths, proclaiming to humankind that they will surely be resurrected. In verse 6, the resurrection is not stated explicitly, and is alluded to indirectly as a way to emphasise the seriousness of the event and its unimaginable intensity.^{‎[3]Mizan‎, 20/185.}

As stated earlier, al-rājifah in verse 6 has been interpreted to be the monumental sound that will cause tremendous upheaval and disarray and that announces the beginning of the events of the Day of Judgement. Al-rādifah in verse 7, in turn, becomes the second such titanic cry that comes after al-rājifah. These two sounds would correspond to the two trumpet sounds described in the verse, And the trumpet will be blown, and whoever is in the heavens will swoon and whoever is on the earth, except whomever Allah wishes. Then it will be blown a second time, behold, they will rise up, looking on!^{‎[4]Mizan‎, 20/184.} (39:68). Joining this with the linguistic meaning of al-rājifah as explained in Exegesis, al-rājifah becomes the first trumpet blow that causes^{‎[5]Alusi, 15/226.} or announces the violent seismic shaking of the earth^{‎[6]Qummi, 2/403.} and the mountains, and al-rādifah becomes the second trumpet blow that succeeds the first.^{‎[7]Mizan‎, 20/185.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Some exegetes have said that al-rājifah in verse 6 refers to the earth and the mountains (73:14). In turn, they say that al-rādifah refers to the heavens and the planets which enter into huge disarray after the earth’s destruction.^{‎[8]Zamakhshari, 4/693.} While verse 14 of Sūrat al-Muzzammil is presented as evidence that al-rājifah refers to the earth and the mountains, there is no evidence that al-rādifah refers to the heavens and the planets. Further, the verse in Sūrat al-Muzzammil says the earth and the mountains will quake on the Day of Judgement, but it does not restrict the quaking to be upon the earth and the mountains only. For these reasons, there is little support to restrict al-rājifah to the earth and the mountains or to consider al-rādifah to be the heavens and the planets. Instead, it is more reasonable to take al-rājifah to be the quaker that announces the Day of Judgement, causing earthly and heavenly bodies alike to tremble and quake.

[1] Nemuneh, 26/81.
[2] Zamakhshari, 4/693.
[3] Mizan‎, 20/185.
[4] Mizan‎, 20/184.
[5] Alusi, 15/226.
[6] Qummi, 2/403.
[7] Mizan‎, 20/185.
[8] Zamakhshari, 4/693.