رجف (root rjf)

Rajafa al-shayʾ yarjufu rajfan and rajafānan, like the rajafān of a camel under the saddle, and as a tree shakes when the wind shakes it, and as teeth shake when their roots are loosened; similarly rajafat al-arḍ means the earth quaked. Rajafa al-qawm means the people prepared for war. Arjafū means they plunged into bad news, such as sedition and the like. Al-rajfa is every punishment sent down that seized a people; it is a rajfa, a ṣayḥa (cry) and a ṣāʿiqa (thunderbolt). Thunder rajafa rajfan and rajīfan, which is the reverberation of its rumble in the sky.

Al-rajfa is the earthquake (zalzala). Rajafat al-arḍ tarjufu rajfan. Al-rajafān is violent agitation. Al-rajjāf is the sea, so named because of its agitation. The poet said: 'Those who feed fat every evening until the sun sets in al-Rajjāf.' Al-irjāf is the singular of arājīf al-akhbār (rumors); arjafū fī al-shayʾ means they plunged into it. Al-rakhf and al-rakhfa: thin butter-fat (zubd). From it is the poet's saying: 'Is it thin butter, easier, or nahīd?' He means: is it thin or thick? Al-rakhf is also dough with much water, soft. Rajafa al-ʿajīn rakhfan, like taʿiba taʿaban, and I made it soft (arkhaftuhu). One says: the water became a rakhfa, meaning thin mud; it may be vowelled [with fatḥa on the khāʾ] because of the guttural letter. Al-rakhf is also a kind of dye.

The letters rāʾ, jīm and fāʾ (رجف) are a root indicating agitation/shaking. One says rajafat al-arḍ (the earth quaked), and the heart; and the sea is rajjāf (رجاف) because of its agitation. Arjafa al-nās fī al-shayʾ means the people plunged into something and were in turmoil.

Al-rajf is violent agitation; one says rajafat al-arḍ and rajafa al-baḥr, and 'baḥr rajjāf'. The Exalted said: 'On the day the quaking one quakes' [al-Nāziʿāt 6], 'On the day the earth and the mountains quake' [al-Muzzammil 14], 'So the quake seized them' [al-Aʿrāf 78]. Al-irjāf is the causing of the quake, either by deed or by word. The Exalted said: 'and the rumor-mongers (al-murjifūn) in the city'. It is said: 'rumors are the fertilizers of sedition.'

Al-rajafān is violent agitation: rajafa al-shayʾ yarjufu rajfan, rujūfan, rajafānan and rajīfan, and arjafa: it fluttered and shook violently. Thaʿlab recited: 'He remained, over the top of his head, quivering.' Rajafa al-shayʾ is like the rajafān of a camel under the saddle, and as a tree shakes when the wind shakes it, and as a tooth shakes when its root is loosened. Al-rajfa is the earthquake. Rajafat al-arḍ tarjufu rajfan: it shook. As for the saying of the Exalted: 'So when the quake seized them, he said: My Lord, if You had willed You would have destroyed them before, and me', that is, had You willed You would have caused them to die before You killed them. It is said that the mountain quaked with them and they died. Rajafa al-qalb: the heart was agitated from fear. Al-rājif is fever that causes shaking, masculine; he said: 'And you brought me near, until when you made me upon the waist or nearer, a shaking one (rājif) took you off.' Rajafa al-shajar yarjufu: the wind moved it, and likewise the teeth. Rajafat al-arḍ: when it quaked. Rajafa al-qawm: when they prepared for war. In the Revelation: 'On the day the quaking one (al-rājifa) quakes, followed by the following one (al-rādifa)'; al-Farrāʾ said: it is the first blast, and al-rādifa is the second blast. Abū Isḥāq said: al-rājifa is the earth shaking, moving violently; Mujāhid said: it is the earthquake. In the hadith: 'O people, remember God; the quaking has come, followed by the following one'; he said: al-rājifa is the first blast by which creatures die, and al-rādifa is the second, by which they come alive on the Day of Resurrection. The basis of al-rajf is movement and agitation; from it is the hadith of the beginning of the revelation: 'So he returned, the flesh of his shoulders trembling.' Al-Layth: al-rajfa in the Qur'an is every punishment that seized a people; it is a rajfa, a ṣayḥa and a ṣāʿiqa. Thunder rajafa rajfan and rajīfan: that is the back-and-forth of its rumble in the clouds. Ibn al-Anbārī: al-rajfa is accompanied by the shaking of the earth; one says rajafa al-shayʾ when it moves. He recited: 'She revives the shaking bones from decay, though there is no physician for the ailment of the two knees.' Ibn al-Aʿrābī: rajafa al-balad when it quaked; rajafat al-arḍ and arjafat when it quaked. Al-Layth: arjafa al-qawm when they plunged into bad news and the mention of sedition. God the Exalted said: 'and the rumor-mongers in the city', who are those who generate false news accompanied by turmoil among the people. Al-Jawharī: al-irjāf is the singular of arājīf al-akhbār; arjafū fī al-shayʾ means they plunged into it. Istarjafa raʾsahu: he moved his head; Dhū al-Rumma said: 'when the water-skin clattered her jaws, and the thirsty, long-necked ones shook their heads.' It is also transmitted: 'when the clattering water-skin made her jaws rattle.' Al-rajjāf is the sea, so named because of its agitation and the movement of its waves; it is a name for it.