وئد

Core meaning

To bury alive: to put into the ground a being that still lives.

Uses

1. ٱلْمَوْءُۥدَةُ → "the girl buried alive" : feminine passive participle: the one buried while alive, questioned on the Day of Appearance.

   • «وَإِذَا ٱلْمَوْءُۥدَةُ سُئِلَتْ بِأَىِّ ذَنۢبٍۢ قُتِلَتْ» — "and when the girl buried alive is asked for what offense she was killed" (81:8)

Evidence from the text

The sole occurrence stands within the series of "when" clauses that opens the sura: the sun wrapped up, the stars dispersing, the mountains set in motion. Amid these upheavals, a single clause concerns a human act: the girl buried alive "is asked for what offense she was killed" (81:8).

The passive participle states the act endured, and the verb that follows, "killed", names its nature: the burial is a murder. The question is put to the victim, not to the murderer: the text gives her back her voice at the moment of judgment.

See also

قتل (the murder the question names) · ذنب (the offense the question concerns)