The Qur’anic Root R AYN D (R ʿ D)

Central Meaning

The root R AYN D (R ʿ D) means thunder, the roar of the sky, a severe shaking sound, and the trembling or anxiety that arises from intense sound, fear, or turbulence.

In the Qur’an, thunder appears in al-Baqarah 2:19 beside ṣayyib, darknesses, and lightning. The scene is not merely “sound”; heavy rain, darkness, the roar of the sky, and sudden lightning together create a frightening and unstable condition.

Linguistic Note

The semantic core of R AYN D (R ʿ D) is severe sound accompanied by shaking and effect. Thunder is not ordinary sound. It comes from above, fills the space, shakes the body, and makes the human being aware of a force greater than himself.

From here, the root approaches bodily trembling. A person trembling from fear, cold, or anxiety enters the field of riʿdah. The effect of sound, fear, or turbulence becomes visible in the body.

R AYN D therefore links several fields: outward roaring in the sky, bodily trembling in the human being, anxiety caused by fear, inner turbulence in a phenomenon, and threatening sound before a strike descends.

Material Image

The first material image is a sky roaring with heavy sound. Dark clouds gather. Rain pours down from above. Lightning suddenly flashes, and then the heavy sound of thunder shakes the space. The human being does not only hear the sound; he feels it in his body.

The second image is a human body trembling from fear, cold, or anxiety. This bodily trembling shows that thunder is not only external; its effect may appear inside the human body.

The third image is the turbulence of a system, like a pot that shakes and sounds from intense boiling. In this image, raʿd approaches the sound produced by inward agitation and restless movement.

The fourth image is threatening sound before a blow. In some Arabic usage, “thundering and lightning” may be used of someone who creates fear through sound, movement, and threat before action. This requires lexical evidence before being stated as a fixed usage, but semantically it fits the root: sound and shaking before the strike descends.

Thunder is therefore not merely “sound.” It is sound joined with greatness, suddenness, turbulence, and a shaking effect.

Classical Arabic Note

In classical Arabic, raʿd is the sound of clouds and the roar of the sky. In the Arab environment, especially in the desert, this word was intensely concrete because thunder often came with rain, storm, lightning, danger, and hope for water.

For the desert human being, thunder was not merely an acoustic event. It could signal the approach of rain, warn of storm, or mark a severe change in the sky. For this reason, thunder was linked both with fear and with hope for descending water.

In lexical usage, R AYN D also extends to bodily trembling. This extension is natural because thunder can shake the body, and fear can also produce trembling. Some usages also bring the root near turbulence, boiling, or threatening sound, such as something agitated inwardly until it shakes and sounds, or a person who creates fear through noise and threat.

Qur’anic Usage

Thunder in the Parable of al-Baqarah

Surat al-Baqarah says: أَوْ كَصَيِّبٍ مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ فِيهِ ظُلُمَاتٌ وَرَعْدٌ وَبَرْقٌ (aw kaṣayyibin min al-samāʾi fīhi ẓulumātun waraʿdun wabarqun); or like a pouring rain from the sky, within it darknesses, thunder, and lightning 2:19.

Here, thunder is part of a full scene. Ṣayyib is pouring rain. Darknesses close the field of sight. Lightning gives sudden and momentary light. Thunder is the severe shaking sound of the scene.

Thunder here is not merely “the sound of the sky.” It is a cause of fear, anxiety, and instability. The hypocrites in this parable face a condition that contains signs, momentary light, danger, sound, and darkness. Thunder creates the heavy auditory burden of the parable.

Thunder and Thunderbolt in al-Baqarah

The verse continues: يَجْعَلُونَ أَصَابِعَهُمْ فِي آذَانِهِم مِّنَ الصَّوَاعِقِ حَذَرَ الْمَوْتِ (yajʿalūna ʾaṣābiʿahum fī ādhānihim min al-ṣawāʿiqi ḥadhara al-mawti); they put their fingers in their ears because of the thunderbolts, fearing death 2:19.

Here, thunder and thunderbolt must be distinguished. Thunder creates the auditory field of terror: a sound that fills the space and shakes the human being. Thunderbolt is the deadly strike and point where danger descends. In the scene of al-Baqarah, thunder is the roar and field of auditory fear; lightning is sudden visible light; thunderbolt is the heavenly strike and mortal danger.

Thunder and Glorification

Surat al-Raʿd says: وَيُسَبِّحُ الرَّعْدُ بِحَمْدِهِ (wayusabbiḥu al-raʿdu biḥamdihi); thunder glorifies with His praise 13:13.

This verse does not present thunder as a meaningless inanimate event. Thunder, within the order of creation, is a sign of The God’s greatness, power, and order. The glorification of thunder should not be reduced too quickly to human speech. Root-wise, the point is that this great heavenly roar belongs, in the Qur’anic view, within the orbit of praise and glorification of The God.

Glorification here may point to the phenomenon’s placement within the precise order of creation. Though thunder frightens the human being, it belongs to a cycle connected with cloud, rain, lightning, thunderbolts, and earthly life.

Thunder, Lightning, Thunderbolts, Fear, and Hope

In the same context, Surat al-Raʿd says: هُوَ الَّذِي يُرِيكُمُ الْبَرْقَ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا وَيُنْشِئُ السَّحَابَ الثِّقَالَ (huwa alladhī yurīkumu al-barqa khawfan waṭamaʿan wayunshiʾu al-saḥāba al-thiqāla); He is the One who shows you the lightning for fear and hope, and He brings forth the heavy clouds 13:12.

Then it says: وَيُسَبِّحُ الرَّعْدُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ مِنْ خِيفَتِهِ وَيُرْسِلُ الصَّوَاعِقَ فَيُصِيبُ بِهَا مَن يَشَاءُ (wayusabbiḥu al-raʿdu biḥamdihi wal-malāikah min khīfatihi wayursilu al-ṣawāʿiqa fayuṣību bihā man yashāʾu); thunder glorifies with His praise, and the angels from fear of Him; and He sends the thunderbolts and strikes with them whom He wills 13:13.

In this context, thunder is linked with lightning, heavy clouds, thunderbolts, fear, and hope. The whole set shows that thunder in the Qur’an belongs to a heavenly system: cloud, lightning, thunderbolt, sound, rain, fear, and hope.

Thunder and Lightning

Thunder and lightning are close, but not the same. Lightning is sudden brightness and momentary flashing. Thunder is severe sound and shaking roar. In al-Baqarah 2:19 and 2:20, lightning is tied to seeing and momentary movement: whenever it gives light, they walk in it. Thunder, however, is tied to hearing, fear, and putting fingers in the ears.

Lightning momentarily lights the field of sight; thunder shakes the field of hearing and the body.

Thunder and Thunderbolt

Thunder and thunderbolt are also not the same. Thunder is the roaring sound of the sky. Thunderbolt is the heavenly strike, shock, or crushing event. In Surat al-Baqarah, thunder appears beside lightning, but putting fingers in the ears is from fear of the thunderbolts. This shows that thunder creates the auditory field of fear, while thunderbolt is the point of danger and the descent of the strike.

Difference from Nearby Roots

B R Q is flashing, lightning, and sudden brightness. Lightning belongs to seeing; thunder belongs to hearing and sonic shaking. Ṣ AYN Q (Ṣ ʿ Q) is thunderbolt, intense heavenly strike, stunning, or destruction through overwhelming force. Thunderbolt has the destructive striking effect; thunder is the roaring sound.

Ṣ W T is sound in general. Thunder is a particular kind of sound: severe, heavenly, roaring, and shaking. D W Y is closer to continuous resonance and reverberation; thunder is heavenly roaring. H D D may approach collapse or a loud crashing sound; thunder is the sound of cloud and sky.

Z L Z L is severe shaking of the earth or structure. Thunder may shake the body, but it is itself a heavenly sound, not an earthquake. W J F is trembling of the heart or anxiety. Thunder may cause wajf, but wajf is an inner state. GH L Y is boiling or agitation; boiling can produce sound and shaking, but thunder emphasizes roaring, shaking sound.

Translation Method

In Forqan translation, raʿd can be translated as “thunder,” since the word is clear in English. But the root explanation should open its force: the roar of the sky, the severe sound of cloud, and shaking sound.

In al-Baqarah 2:19, if one says only “thunder,” the intensity of the scene may become flat. In explanation or interpretive translation, “roaring thunder,” “the roar of the sky,” or “the shaking resonance of the sky” may carry the image better. In al-Raʿd 13:13, the glorification of thunder should not be reduced to ordinary human speech. Thunder, through its roar and its place in the order of creation, belongs to the orbit of glorification and praise of The God.

Forqan Translation Suggestions

رَعْد (raʿd): thunder, the roar of the sky, severe shaking cloud-sound, shaking resonance.

رَعَدَ / يَرْعُدُ (raʿada / yarʿudu): thundered, roared, produced a severe sound, trembled.

رِعْدَة (riʿdah): trembling, shaking, bodily anxiety.

أَرْعَدَ (arʿada): made tremble, brought into thunder-like disturbance, caused anxiety, depending on context.

فِيهِ ظُلُمَاتٌ وَرَعْدٌ وَبَرْقٌ (fīhi ẓulumātun waraʿdun wabarqun): within it are darknesses, thunder, and lightning; or within it are darknesses, the roar of the sky, and lightning.

وَيُسَبِّحُ الرَّعْدُ بِحَمْدِهِ (wayusabbiḥu al-raʿdu biḥamdihi): thunder glorifies with His praise; or the roar of the sky belongs to the orbit of His praise.

Linguistic Summary

The root R AYN D (R ʿ D) denotes thunder, the roar of the sky, severe shaking sound, bodily trembling, and the frightening effect of sound. At the material level, thunder is the sound of cloud and sky, a sound that comes from above, fills the space, and shakes the human body. More broadly, the root may approach trembling, inner turbulence, and threatening sound.

In the Qur’an, thunder appears both in the frightening parable of al-Baqarah 2:19 and in Surat al-Raʿd as a phenomenon in the orbit of glorification and praise of The God. Thunder stands beside lightning, heavy clouds, thunderbolts, fear, and hope; it should therefore be understood as part of a full heavenly scene.

Its difference from lightning is that lightning is sudden brightness, while thunder is severe shaking sound. Its difference from thunderbolt is that thunderbolt is the heavenly strike and destructive effect, while thunder is the roar and auditory field of that scene. The central image is this: the sky roars, sound descends from above, space and body tremble, and the human being stands before a force greater than himself.