فَكَانَتْ هَبَاءً مُّنبَثًّا
“And become dust particles dispersed”.
The verse presents a vivid transformation: what appears massive and immovable becomes fine dust, then that dust is sent out and scattered in every direction.
The language of the verse centers on the imagery of هَبَاءً and the force of مُّنبَثًّا, along with the range of usage tied to scattering, spreading, and what cannot remain contained.
The first word establishes the visual texture of the scene.
هَبَاءً
Refers to dust particles that can be seen under sunlight. The image is not of a solid fragment, but of tiny suspended particles made visible in light.
هَبَاءً
It is also said to be dust carried in the wind, or the dust that rises when horses’ hooves strike the ground. The word therefore suggests lightness, motion, and complete pulverisation.
The second word supplies the force and direction of dispersal.
مُّنبَثًّا
Comes from the verb اِنْبَثَّ. The root usage conveys sending out, scattering, dispersing, and spreading.
بَثَّ / اِنْبَثَّ
The word does not merely indicate that dust exists. It indicates that it is released outward, spread, and sent away in multiple directions.
Each language point contributes to a single coherent visual meaning.
The mountains are understood as crushed and pulverised until they no longer remain as firm structures.
They become like fine dust particles—the sort that can be seen suspended in sunlight, or lifted into view by force and movement.
That dust is then dispersed and sent out, not held in one place, but spread in every direction.
Several fields of usage deepen the sense of scattering.
An important related meaning of البَثّ.
البَثّ is also used to express intense sadness, grief, and sickness—that which a person is not able to keep hidden.
This broadens the semantic field of the root: what is “sent out” or “spread” is not only physical movement, but also what cannot remain contained.
A concise synthesis of the full wording analysis.
The mountains are crushed until they become dust-like particles, then scattered and spread outward in every direction.
هَبَاءً gives the image of extremely fine dust visible in light, or raised and carried by motion. مُّنبَثًّا gives the force of release, spread, and dispersal. Together, they create a scene in which the mountains lose all solidity and become a cloud of dispersed particles.