An-Nazi'at 79:19 - Linguistic Miracle

And if I guide you to your Master, so you may fear and change?

Khashyah was used at its root for lush plants that turned dry, and for good crops that

turned black.³¹ It was used to mean ‘fear’ because fear is something that dries you up inside; but it also implies a change of state like those plants that underwent a complete change and turned black. It is one thing to have fear, but it is another when that fear changes you. Khashyah is a fear that changes your behaviour because you are afraid of the consequences otherwise. Pharaoh was being told to fear the inevitable consequences of what he was doing and hence, repent from his ways.

³¹ Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal li-Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 1, p. 559