7 Preface إِذا أُلقوا فيها سَمِعوا لَها شَهيقًا وَهِيَ تَفورُYusuf AliWhen they are cast therein, they will hear the (terrible) drawing in1 of its breath even as it blazes forth,For skahiq see n. 1607 to 11:106. There shahiq (sobs) was contrasted with zafir (sighs): in the one case it is the drawing in of breath, and in the other the emission of a deep breath. Here the latter process is represented by the verb f ara, to swell, to blaze forth, to gush forth. In 11:40, the verb fara was applied to the gushing forth of the waters of the Flood: here the verb is applied to the blazing forth of the Fire of Punishment. Fire is personified: in its intake it has a fierce appetite: in the flames which it throws out, it has a fierce aggressiveness. And yet in ultimate result evil meets the same fate, whether typified by water or fire.