Qur’anic root Ḥ TH TH

1. Forms and derivatives of the root

ح ث ث consists of ḥāʾ, thāʾ, and thāʾ, making it a doubled Arabic root. In forms such as حَثَّ, the two thāʾ radicals merge into one consonant bearing a shaddah.

The principal Arabic forms of this family include:

• حَثَّ ـ يَحُثُّ (ḥaththa–yaḥuththu): prompted movement or action, urged haste, or encouraged someone to do something.
• حَثّ (ḥathth): prompting, hastening, and encouragement to perform or continue an action.
• حَثِيث (ḥathīth): swift, quick, and persistent; someone or something moving or acting with speed and earnestness.
• حَثِيثَة (ḥathīthah): the feminine descriptive form of ḥathīth.
• حِثَاث (ḥithāth): in some uses, a group of people hastening; also forms with particular meanings in other branches.
• حَثُوث (ḥathūth): strongly urging or swift.
• حَاثّ (ḥāthth): active participle: one who urges another to move or act.
• مَحْثُوث (maḥthūth): prompted or urged; someone pressed to hasten or act.
• حَثَّثَ ـ يُحَثِّثُ (ḥaththatha–yuḥaththithu): urged haste or encouraged an action.
• تَحْثِيث (taḥthīth): hastening, encouragement, and prompting action.
• أَحَثَّ (aḥaththa): in recorded usage, impelled someone to greater speed or action.
• اسْتَحَثَّ (istaḥaththa): requested haste or urged another to move faster.
• اِحْتَثَّ (iḥtaththa): hastened or began moving or acting in response to urging.
• تَحَاثَّ (taḥāththa): urged or encouraged one another to do something.
• حِثِّيثَى (ḥiththīthā): a term for hastening and persistent urging.
• حُثْحُوث (ḥuthḥūth): in some dictionaries, an expression close to ḥathth in the sense of hastening.

Arabic sources also record حَثْحَثَ and حَثْحَثَة. These have a quadriliteral, repetitive structure and are semantically related to حَثَّ, but resemblance alone does not establish a particular historical process of derivation.

Of this entire family, only حَثِيثًا occurs in the Qur’an, once in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54.

The word follows the pattern فَعِيل and appears in the accusative in the verse.

The verbs حَثَّ, اسْتَحَثَّ, and اِحْتَثَّ, the noun حَاثّ, and the verbal noun تَحْثِيث therefore do not occur in the Qur’an, although they help explain the root’s semantic range.

Quranic Arabic Corpus: the sole occurrence of ḥathīth in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54

2. Semantic cores and usage in early Arabic

Prompting and urging to hasten

In Maqāyīs al-Lughah, Ibn Fāris identifies two semantic foundations for ح ث ث: prompting and encouraging an action, and a kind of dryness and fragmented residue in things.

For the first, he gives حَثَثْتُهُ عَلَى الشَّيْءِ: “I urged someone to do something.”

Within this branch, he explains حَثِيث as swift.

Lisān al-ʿArab gives an important definition of حَثّ:

الْإِعْجَالُ فِي اتِّصَالٍ

al-iʿjālu fī ittiṣālin

That is, hastening with continuity.

This definition draws a useful distinction between a brief swift movement and haste maintained during the continuation of an action.

In this use, attention falls not only on prompting someone to move or act, but also on that person’s haste and persistence.

The same source also records the more general sense of hastening. Prolonged continuity should therefore not be made a mandatory condition of every use of the root.

A clearer core meaning is: prompting movement or action, with emphasis on haste and earnestness.

The prompting may come from another person, or haste and persistence may appear in the individual’s own action.

Lisān al-ʿArab and Al-Ṣiḥāḥ: haste and urging

حَثَّ and حَثِيث: the act of urging and the manner of movement

حَثَّ is commonly transitive: someone urges another person to act or hasten.

حَثِيث, by contrast, is a description that can express the state or manner of movement or action.

For example, حَثَّهُ عَلَى السَّيْرِ concerns urging someone to travel faster.

وَلَّى حَثِيثًا means that someone or something turned away and departed swiftly.

The first highlights the act of urging haste; the second, the swiftness of the movement itself.

This distinction matters for the Qur’anic use: حَثِيثًا in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 is not an imperative or a command to make something hasten, but describes the manner of pursuit.

A witness from poetry attributed to the pre-Islamic period: departing youth and pursuing old age

Salāmah ibn Jandal, the pre-Islamic poet of Banū Tamīm, says in a poem about youth’s passing:

وَلَّى حَثِيثًا وَهَذَا الشَّيْبُ يَطْلُبُهُ
لَوْ كَانَ يُدْرِكُهُ رَكْضُ الْيَعَاقِيبِ

wallā ḥathīthan wa-hādhā al-shaybu yaṭlubuhu / law kāna yudrikuhu rakḍu al-yaʿāqībi

An approximate rendering is: “Youth departed swiftly, and this gray-haired age pursues it—if the running of the yaʿāqīb could overtake it.” Lexical explanations interpret yaʿāqīb either as swift horses or as male partridges; the first interpretation should not be presented as the only one.

Here حَثِيثًا describes the swiftness of youth’s passing.

The poet pictures youth as moving away while old age moves after it.

The combination of حَثِيثًا and يَطْلُبُهُ is significant. Another transmission reads يَتْبَعُهُ instead of يَطْلُبُهُ.

Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 likewise places these elements together in يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا.

The resemblance shows that describing pursuit accompanied by haste was familiar in Arabic poetic language.

Salāmah’s subject is youth and old age; the Qur’anic subject is night and day.

Both describe movement and pursuit in natural language, without requiring youth, old age, night, or day to possess a human intention to pursue.

The witness is valuable for understanding the early meaning of حَثِيث because it illustrates the word in a context separate from the Qur’anic verse.

Literary sources, including Ibn Qutaybah’s Al-Shiʿr wa-al-Shuʿarāʾ, identify Salāmah ibn Jandal as pre-Islamic, and the poem is also recorded in his collected poetry.

As with any poetry attributed to the pre-Islamic period, its recording in later sources must nevertheless be distinguished from proof of its exact date of composition.

Lisān al-ʿArab: both interpretations of yaʿāqīb and the yaṭlubuhu/yatbaʿuhu variant

Haste in an animal’s movement

Early Arabic also uses حَثّ for urging an animal to move.

Someone may urge a mount to move faster or impel it to continue along a route.

Ḥathth here means more than accompanying the animal: it emphasizes greater speed or earnest movement.

Lexicons also describe حَثِيث as a creature that is swift and persistent in movement or activity.

This semantic field was connected with travel and movement over long routes.

It does not follow that Qur’anic حَثِيثًا necessarily refers to an animal galloping or to a creature moving over the ground.

In Arabic, the image of swift movement can extend from living creatures to natural phenomena and even the passage of time.

A bird’s swift movement

Lisān al-ʿArab quotes a verse by Al-Aʿshā using حَثِيثًا to describe swift movement.

The explanation compares a horse’s speed with the movement of a bird of prey.

An expression containing يَحُثُّ الْجَنَاحَ is also transmitted from Abū Khirāsh al-Hudhalī, concerning the movement of wings in flight.

Here ḥathth is not restricted to verbal encouragement: swift, persistent wing movement can also be described through this family.

Arabic ḥathth can therefore concern both urging someone else to act and haste and earnestness in movement.

The verb’s meaning in each sentence nevertheless depends on its subject, object, and construction.

حَثْحَثَة: repeated movement and agitation

Lexicons connect حَثْحَثَة with movement and agitation.

Ibn Fāris mentions it when describing lightning’s movement and agitation among clouds.

Lisān al-ʿArab also records uses concerning repeated lightning, rainfall, and swift movement.

Repetition and continuity of movement matter in such uses.

Morphologically, however, حَثْحَثَة is quadriliteral. Its historical emergence should not be established through arbitrary removal or repetition of consonants.

Discussing a poetic witness, Ibn Jinnī rejects the account that حَثْحَثُوا simply substitutes ḥāʾ for one thāʾ of حَثَّثُوا, since that proposed sound substitution lacks sufficient support.

The disagreement shows that proximity in meaning and similarity of consonants alone do not prove a historical derivation.

Lisān al-ʿArab citing Ibn Jinnī: criticism of substituting ḥāʾ for thāʾ

حُثّ: dry fragments and coarse sand

Another branch recorded by Ibn Fāris and other lexicographers uses حُثّ for dry fragments and remnants.

Lexicons apply the word to dry chaff, coarse dry sand, and certain crumbled or coarsely textured materials.

In Lisān al-ʿArab, سَوِيقٌ حُثّ concerns flour or a food preparation that has not been made sufficiently fine or properly prepared.

تَمْرٌ حُثّ can also describe dates that do not stick together.

These uses principally concern dryness, roughness, fragmentation, or separate particles, rather than haste or urging.

Ibn Fāris likewise treats this as separate from prompting.

One can imagine connections between scattered fragments and swift movement, but such resemblances do not establish a shared historical origin.

This branch should therefore be recorded in Qur’anic research, while dryness, crumbling, or scattered sand should not enter the meaning of حَثِيثًا in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54.

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lughah: two semantic foundations and Salāmah ibn Jandal’s verse

3. Qur’anic use of the root

Al-Aʿrāf 7:54: night swiftly pursues day

Arabic verse:

إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ يُغْشِي اللَّيْلَ النَّهَارَ يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ وَالنُّجُومَ مُسَخَّرَاتٍ بِأَمْرِهِ أَلَا لَهُ الْخَلْقُ وَالْأَمْرُ تَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ

inna rabbakumu Allāhu alladhī khalaqa al-samāwāti wa-al-arḍa fī sittati ayyāmin thumma istawā ʿalā al-ʿarshi yughshī al-layla al-nahāra yaṭlubuhu ḥathīthan wa-al-shamsa wa-al-qamara wa-al-nujūma musakhkharātin bi-amrihi alā lahu al-khalqu wa-al-amru tabāraka Allāhu rabbu al-ʿālamīna

Proposed Persian translation, rendered here in English:

“Indeed, your Lord is The God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established Himself over the Throne. He covers day with night; night swiftly pursues day. The sun, moon, and stars are also subjected to His command. Be aware: creation and command belong to Him. Blessed is The God, Lord of all worlds.”

In this verse, حَثِيثًا describes the manner of movement and pursuit.

يَطْلُبُهُ comes from طَلَبَ. Here ṭalab means following or pursuing something.

حَثِيثًا emphasizes that action’s speed and persistence.

يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا therefore means that something swiftly pursues something else.

In the verse’s principal and established reading, night follows day and covers it.

What determines the meaning of ح ث ث, however, is the description حَثِيث itself: swift and quick, with earnest movement.

The morphology and syntax of حَثِيثًا

حَثِيثًا follows the pattern فَعِيل.

Arabic can use this pattern for a description expressing intensity or a prominent characteristic.

Here حَثِيثًا is accusative.

Two main syntactic explanations are presented for its role.

In one, it describes an omitted verbal noun, so that the understood expression is:

“يَطْلُبُهُ طَلَبًا حَثِيثًا.”

That is: “It pursues it with a swift pursuit.”

In another analysis, حَثِيثًا is a circumstantial expression describing the subject’s state during the action; some grammarians also allow it to describe the object, as ḥāththan or maḥthūthan: urging or being urged to hasten.

Both analyses retain the central idea: the pursuit occurs swiftly.

For natural Persian, “shetābān,” meaning swiftly, or “bā shetāb,” meaning with haste, is therefore suitable.

The syntactic difference should not be turned into two entirely unrelated concepts, one exclusively physical speed and the other exclusively desire and volition.

Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān wa-Bayānuh: circumstance of subject or object, or description of an omitted verbal noun

The referent of the pronoun هُ in يَطْلُبُهُ

The pronoun هُ in يَطْلُبُهُ refers to what is being pursued.

In the familiar reading consistent with the sentence’s order, night pursues day.

This agrees with the preceding expression, يُغْشِي اللَّيْلَ النَّهَارَ.

Al-Ṭabarī also explains night as pursuing day.

Some grammatical discussions and transmitted readings offer other possibilities for the relationship between night and day.

These differences do not change حَثِيثًا itself. Whether night follows day or the reciprocal succession of day and night is considered, ḥathīth still expresses swiftness.

The verse’s direct translation should preserve the relationship between subject and object as far as its structure makes that relationship clear, without adding explanations external to its wording.

Al-Ṭabarī: night pursuing day, and ḥathīth as swift

The relationship between يُغْشِي and يَطْلُبُهُ

The first verb, يُغْشِي, belongs to غ ش و / غ ش ي.

Study of GH SH W

It concerns covering.

Night covers day, and daylight gives way to night’s darkness.

يَطْلُبُهُ, by contrast, concerns pursuing.

Two images therefore appear together: covering and pursuit.

حَثِيثًا specifies the manner of pursuit.

The meanings of covering, following, and haste should consequently not all be attributed to ح ث ث alone.

The root discussed here expresses haste, while the other two verbs express covering and pursuit themselves.

Haste accompanied by continuity

Lisān al-ʿArab explains حَثّ through الإعجال في اتصال.

This expression helps explain the image of night and day.

Night and day are not phenomena occurring only once in history and then ending. Their succession repeats continually in human experience.

In this context, حَثِيثًا can therefore evoke both swift pursuit and uninterrupted succession.

Lexical meaning must nevertheless be distinguished from what the entire context conveys.

حَثِيثًا directly expresses speed. The continuity and repetition of night and day are also understood from the phenomenon itself and other Qur’anic descriptions of it.

Substituting “continuously, without any temporal interruption” for حَثِيثًا may therefore incorporate more explanation than the word directly conveys.

“Swiftly” is a more precise basic equivalent; continuous succession can be discussed in contextual analysis.

Does حَثِيثًا mean unthinking haste?

In Persian, “shetābzadegi” can carry a negative sense: acting without care or thought.

Arabic حَثِيث does not have that fixed negative meaning.

The word can express speed and earnestness without necessarily implying disorder, error, or a rash decision.

Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 concerns natural phenomena and the sun, moon, and stars being subjected to God’s command.

حَثِيثًا here therefore does not mean rash, disorderly movement.

“Swiftly” or “with haste” is accordingly preferable to “frantically” or “rashly.”

Do night and day actually pursue one another?

In natural language, يَطْلُبُهُ creates an image of pursuit.

Salāmah ibn Jandal’s poem likewise depicts old age pursuing youth.

Old age in that poem is not a creature pursuing youth through human will and decision.

Likewise, Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 need not make night and day two beings possessing an intention to pursue.

The expression describes movement and succession through the language of pursuit.

In human experience, night arrives as day ends, and day begins as night ends.

Other Qur’anic passages discuss this succession, including Al-Raʿd 13:3, Yā Sīn 36:37, Yā Sīn 36:38, Yā Sīn 36:39, Yā Sīn 36:40, and Al-Zumar 39:5.

These verses are thematically related to Al-Aʿrāf 7:54, although ح ث ث itself does not occur in them.

Does the verse specify a speed for cosmic movement?

حَثِيثًا itself gives no numerical speed.

The word contains no unit of time, distance, angular velocity, or specified physical measurement.

It cannot by itself determine the speed of the earth, sun, moon, or boundary between darkness and light.

Modern science explains the succession of day and night through the earth’s rotation and illumination by the sun. This knowledge can expand our understanding of the natural phenomenon mentioned in the verse.

The lexical meaning of حَثِيثًا, however, does not depend on one particular scientific model.

يَطْلُبُهُ likewise does not make night an independent body moving behind day through its own motor or separate force.

The verse describes swiftness and succession in natural language; the word itself does not specify the natural mechanism in detail.

حَثِيثًا and the world’s order

After describing night and day, the verse speaks of the sun, moon, and stars as subjected to God’s command.

It also says at its close: أَلَا لَهُ الْخَلْقُ وَالْأَمْرُ.

Night’s swift pursuit of day thus belongs within a set of descriptions of creation and the governance of the world.

The context presents phenomena’s movement and succession as part of the order of creation.

حَثِيثًا alone, however, does not mean natural law, orbital movement, or subjection.

These concepts emerge from the combination of words and the verse’s general subject.

The specific role of حَثِيثًا remains to express swiftness in pursuit.

4. Differences from related roots

ح ث ث (ḥaththa) and ح ض ض (ḥaḍḍa): prompting and encouragement

Arabic حَثَّ and حَضَّ are close in meaning.

Both can concern encouraging and prompting someone to act.

Some lexical explanations associate حَثّ more with hastening movement and advancing action, and حَضّ with urging an action.

The distinction is not absolute: Arabic also uses حَثَّهُ عَلَى الْعَمَلِ for encouraging work, and حَضَّهُ for prompting action.

The Qur’anic family ح ض ض occurs in the context of encouraging feeding a person in need, including Al-Māʿūn 107:3 and Al-Fajr 89:18.

حَثِيثًا in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54, however, concerns swift movement and pursuit.

The consonants’ auditory resemblance does not make ث and ض one root.

Nor should حَثِيثًا in the verse about night and day be restricted to “encouraging,” since its subject is swift succession.

ح ث ث (ḥathīth) and س ر ع (sarīʿ): haste and speed

Study of S R ʿ

Arabic سَرِيع concerns quickness and speed.

حَثِيث can carry a similar meaning.

Lexicons explain حَثِيثًا through مُسْرِعًا, meaning hastening.

Beyond speed, however, ح ث ث also has the field of prompting and urging to hasten.

In some uses, ḥathīth can therefore highlight swift, persistent movement.

The words should not be given an absolute distinction, as though sarīʿ always meant instantaneous speed while ḥathīth always meant prolonged, uninterrupted speed.

“Swiftly” in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 naturally renders ḥathīth and agrees with the lexical explanation musriʿ.

ح ث ث (ḥaththa) and ع ج ل (ʿajila): urging haste and hastening

Study of ʿ J L

Arabic عَجِلَ concerns hastening and advancing an action’s performance.

حَثَّ can likewise urge someone to greater speed.

The families overlap, but differ in their angle of use.

عَجِلَ can describe the person hastening, whereas transitive حَثَّهُ highlights prompting someone else.

حَثِيث can nevertheless also describe someone moving swiftly in their own right.

The distinction is therefore a tendency, rather than a rule applying equally to every derivative.

Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 conveys haste, but that haste should not be equated with blameworthy impatience or lack of judgment.

ح ث ث (ḥathīth) and ط ل ب (ṭalaba): speed and pursuit

The roots occur together in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54.

طَلَبَ here concerns pursuing or following something.

حَثِيث describes the manner of that pursuit.

Ṭalab thus expresses pursuit itself, while ḥathīth expresses its speed.

This distinction also appears in Salāmah ibn Jandal’s poem: youth departs swiftly, and old age follows it.

Rendering يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا as “pursues it swiftly” therefore preserves both components.

Saying only “pursues it” omits حَثِيثًا.

Saying only “hastens” loses يَطْلُبُهُ and the relationship of pursuit.

ح ث ث (ḥathīth) and ت ب ع (tabiʿa): haste and following

Study of T B ʿ

تَبِعَ concerns following, complying, and moving after another.

This root does not itself express great speed.

Someone may follow another slowly or swiftly.

حَثِيث in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 emphasizes speed and earnest movement.

The family ت ب ع can therefore explain the succession of night and day, while ḥathīth highlights its swift character.

ح ث ث (ḥaththa) and د ف ع (dafaʿa): impelling movement and pushing

Arabic دَفَعَ concerns pushing, advancing, and driving something away.

حَثَّ can likewise impel a person or animal to greater movement.

In some situations, both verbs can concern advancing movement.

Dafʿ need not involve great speed; it can simply describe transferring or moving something away.

Ḥathth places more emphasis on prompting movement or action and haste within it.

Ḥathth also need not mean applying physical force: someone can prompt another to act through speech and encouragement.

ح ث ث (ḥaththa) and ح ث و / ح ث ي (ḥathā): urging haste and scattering

Arabic حَثَا concerns taking up and scattering earth, sand, or similar materials.

This family differs from ح ث ث.

The third radical in ح ث ث is thāʾ, whereas the third radical in ح ث و / ح ث ي is weak.

The resemblance between forms such as حَثّ and حَثَا therefore does not establish one shared root.

حَثِيثًا in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 does not mean scattering or sprinkling something.

5. Challenges in understanding and translation

Does حَثِيثًا always mean continuous movement?

The early explanation الْإِعْجَالُ فِي اتِّصَالٍ joins continuity with haste.

Some lexicographers nevertheless also record the more general meaning of haste.

Continuity can therefore be an important feature of this semantic field, without being a fixed, mandatory condition of every use.

In Al-Aʿrāf 7:54, repetition and succession of night and day emerge from the phenomenon’s natural context.

“Swiftly” preserves the word’s central meaning; sustained pursuit can be discussed in the explanation of the verse.

Does حَثِيث establish external pressure?

No.

Transitive حَثَّ can mean urging someone else to hasten.

حَثِيث, however, may simply describe a swiftly moving entity or swift movement.

In Salāmah ibn Jandal’s poem, youth passes swiftly, but the poem does not specify a person or independent force impelling it to hasten.

حَثِيثًا in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 likewise describes the manner of pursuit.

This description alone does not establish a particular physical force, external pressure, or mechanism of movement.

Does حَثِيثًا mean movement at constant speed?

The word itself has no such meaning.

حَثِيث expresses speed and haste, rather than an unchanging amount of speed at every moment.

It therefore does not establish that the movement discussed has an identical numerical speed under all conditions.

Qur’anic حَثِيثًا belongs to an image of night and day succeeding each other; it should not be turned into a particular physical equation.

Does speed in this verse mean disorder?

No.

In Persian, expressions meaning “in a hurry” or “rashly” sometimes describe work done without care.

That negative sense is not necessary to حَثِيثًا itself.

In Al-Aʿrāf 7:54, speed occurs among descriptions of creation and the governance of the world.

“Swiftly” is therefore more precise than “restlessly,” “frantically,” or “rashly.”

Is ḥathth always commendable?

No.

In Arabic, someone may urge another toward a good act or a wrong one.

The goal’s rightness or wrongness does not come from the root itself.

حَثَّ عَلَى الْخَيْرِ concerns urging goodness, but the construction can also take another subject matter.

Ḥathth expresses encouragement and urging haste; its moral value depends on the act toward which someone is prompted.

Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 does not present this as a moral judgment about human beings, since its subject is the movement and succession of natural phenomena.

6. Translation proposals for Forqan

The most suitable brief Persian equivalent for حَثِيثًا in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 is “shetābān”: swiftly.

It is natural and fluent while preserving the sense of speed.

“Bā shetāb,” meaning with haste, is also suitable.

“Swift and persistent” can help in a lexical explanation, although a direct translation may then use two Persian descriptions for one Arabic expression.

“Without interruption” conveys only continuity, without fully expressing speed.

“In a hurry” can suggest carelessness or rashness in Persian, making it less suitable here than “swiftly.”

A suitable rendering of the complete يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا is:

“It pursues it swiftly.”

Or, making the pronoun’s referent explicit in the full sentence:

“Night swiftly pursues day.”

The second flows more naturally within the complete verse and clarifies the relationship between night and day.

Forqan’s lexical box should retain two distinct fields:

Brief root meaning: “Prompting movement or action; urging to hasten and moving swiftly.”

Meaning in this verse: “Swiftly and quickly; describing night’s pursuit of day.”

The reflection can explain that early Arabic uses حَثِيث for swift, persistent movement, with a clear example in Salāmah ibn Jandal’s poem.

The direct verse translation need not incorporate every lexical explanation of حَثّ, حُثّ, and حَثْحَثَة.

7. Conclusion

The principal branch of ح ث ث concerns prompting, urging haste, and swift, persistent movement or action.

حَثَّ can concern encouraging and impelling someone else to act, while حَثِيث can describe someone or something moving swiftly and earnestly.

Early Arabic uses the family for the movement of people, animals, and birds, and for prompting action.

Salāmah ibn Jandal’s poem about departing youth and pursuing old age is an important witness for حَثِيث.

Lexicons also record a separate حُثّ branch for dry fragments and coarse sand. That meaning has no direct connection with the Qur’anic use and should not be transferred to the verse.

The root occurs only once in the Qur’an: حَثِيثًا in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54.

In يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا, the verb يَطْلُبُهُ expresses pursuit, and حَثِيثًا emphasizes its swiftness.

The expression’s clear meaning is therefore swift pursuit.

In context, night and day are described as one following the other and taking its place.

This image does not make night and day two beings with independent wills, nor does حَثِيثًا define a particular physical mechanism for the movement of the earth and celestial bodies.

The finding is that حَثِيثًا in Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 emphasizes the speed of pursuit; the succession of night and day emerges from its relationship with يَطْلُبُهُ and the verse’s context.

“Swiftly” for the word itself and “pursues it swiftly” for the full expression are therefore precise, natural renderings that preserve the Arabic meaning without adding an unsupported image or scientific claim.