What does « To drag / To drag along » mean in the Quran?
Discover the meaning of the word To drag / To drag along (سحب) in the Quran, with 11 verses in which it appears, and a detailed explanation from Al-Raghib al-Asfahani's Mufradat fi gharib al-Qur'an.
سحب
To drag / To drag along
Root: س - ح - ب
Quranic language 11 verses
Updated on 29 May 2026 at 7:00 AM
📖 3 min read
Definition of To drag / To drag along
As-sahb originally means dragging, like dragging a garment or dragging someone on their face.
The Almighty says: 'The Day they are dragged into the Fire on their faces' (Al-Qamar 48).
As-sahab: clouds, so named because they are dragged by the wind. 'It is He who passes the heavy clouds' (Ar-Ra'd 12).
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason.
And it is He who sends the winds as good tidings before His mercy until, when they have carried heavy rainclouds, We drive them to a dead land and We send down rain therein and bring forth thereby [some] of all the fruits. Thus will We bring forth the dead; perhaps you may be reminded.
Or [they are] like darknesses within an unfathomable sea which is covered by waves, upon which are waves, over which are clouds - darknesses, some of them upon others. When one puts out his hand [therein], he can hardly see it. And he to whom Allah has not granted light - for him there is no light.
Do you not see that Allah drives clouds? Then He brings them together, then He makes them into a mass, and you see the rain emerge from within it. And He sends down from the sky, mountains [of clouds] within which is hail, and He strikes with it whom He wills and averts it from whom He wills. The flash of its lightening almost takes away the eyesight.
And you see the mountains, thinking them rigid, while they will pass as the passing of clouds. [It is] the work of Allah, who perfected all things. Indeed, He is Acquainted with that which you do.
It is Allah who sends the winds, and they stir the clouds and spread them in the sky however He wills, and He makes them fragments so you see the rain emerge from within them. And when He causes it to fall upon whom He wills of His servants, immediately they rejoice
And it is Allah who sends the winds, and they stir the clouds, and We drive them to a dead land and give life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness. Thus is the resurrection.