رهق

Core meaning

To veil and crush by a force come from outside: the humiliation that veils the faces, the weight that exceeds what one can bear.

Uses

1. رَهِقَ, تَرْهَقُ → "to veil" : what falls upon the faces on the Day.

   • «وَلَا يَرْهَقُ وُجُوهَهُمْ قَتَرٌۭ وَلَا ذِلَّةٌ» — "neither dark dust nor humiliation will veil their faces" (10:26)
   • «تَرْهَقُهُمْ ذِلَّةٌۭ» — "humiliation veiling them" (68:43)
   • «تَرْهَقُهَا قَتَرَةٌ» — "veiled in dark dust" (80:41)

2. أَرْهَقَ → "to crush" : to impose on someone a weight that exceeds him.

   • «وَلَا تُرْهِقْنِى مِنْ أَمْرِى عُسْرًۭا» — "and do not crush me, in my affair, with hardship" (18:73)
   • «سَأُرْهِقُهُۥ صَعُودًا» — "I will crush him with a steep ascent" (74:17)

3. رَهَق → "crushing" : the state of the one on whom this weight bears.

   • «فَزَادُوهُمْ رَهَقًۭا» — "and they only crushed them all the more" (72:6)
   • «فَلَا يَخَافُ بَخْسًۭا وَلَا رَهَقًۭا» — "will fear neither loss nor crushing" (72:13)

Evidence from the text

What weighs always comes from outside and falls upon someone: humiliation upon those who committed evil deeds (10:27, 68:43, 70:44), blackness upon the faces (80:41), the immoderation and disowning a son would lay upon his parents (18:80), the imposed ascent (74:17). The weight exceeds the measure: Moussa asks not to be crushed "with hardship" (18:73).

In sura 72, the noun becomes a state: those who take refuge in the Occulted receive an increase of it (72:6); the one who believes fears none (72:13). Likewise, those who do good are spared it on the Day: nothing will veil their faces (10:26).

Distinctions

• غشو — to cover over: what falls and covers, without the idea of a weight that exceeds; 10:27 sets the two side by side
• عنت — being overwhelmed: the excessive charge one dreads, whereas رهق is the weight that falls and crushes

See also

ذلل (humiliation)