The passage moves through four stages: lightning (70–71), the cloud’s reach (72–73), rainfall and its destructive effects (74–76), and images of mountains, plains, birds, and beasts after the storm (77–81).
ComparisonNatural scene
Hands flashing rapidlyLightning
Elder in a cloakThabīr veiled by rain
Spindle whorlAl-Mujaymir amid floodwater
Yemeni merchant unpackingFlood deposits on al-Ghabīṭ
The recurring artistic device is to render extraordinary sights through familiar objects. Verse 81 closes the first Muʿallaqah; the next text opens with Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd.