رعب

Core meaning

Terror: a sudden dread cast into the core, which undoes before any battle.

Uses

1. أَلْقَىٰ, قَذَفَ … ٱلرُّعْب → "to cast terror" : terror cast into the cores of the adversary, at one stroke.

   • «سَأُلْقِى فِى قُلُوبِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ ٱلرُّعْبَ» — "I will cast terror into the cores of those who disown" (8:12)
   • «وَقَذَفَ فِى قُلُوبِهِمُ ٱلرُّعْبَ» — "And He hurled terror into their cores" (59:2)

2. رُعْبًا (مُلِئَ) → "to be filled with terror" : the terror that overwhelms the one who sees.

   • «وَلَمُلِئْتَ مِنْهُمْ رُعْبًۭا» — "and been filled with terror" (18:18)

Evidence from the text

Four times out of five the same formula returns: terror is "cast" into the cores (3:151, 8:12, 33:26, 59:2). The verb names a blow struck, not a fear that rises. In 33:26 and 59:2, terror accompanies the descent from the strongholds and the houses dismantled by their own hands: it comes before the defeat and brings it about.

In 18:18, it is the terror a witness would have felt before the sleepers of the Cave: "you would surely have turned your back on them in flight" (18:18).

Distinctions

• خوف — fear: a state that lasts and anticipates, whereas terror is a shock
• رهب — reverence: the fear that keeps at a distance

See also

قلب (the core)