Virtues of the Quran's Chapters and Verses
Special Virtues of the Qur'an's Chapters and Verses 42
قَالَ أَحْمَدُ: حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْمُغِيرَةِ حَدَّثَنَا صَفْوَانُ حَدَّثَنِي الْمَشْيَخَةُ أَنَّهُمْ حَضَرُوا غُضَيْفَ بْنَ الْحَارِثِ الثُّمَالِيَّ حِينَ اشْتَدَّ سَوْقُهُ قَالَ: هَلْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ يَقْرَأُ يس؟ قَالَ: فَقَرَأَهَا صَالِحُ بْنُ شُرَيْحٍ السَّكُونِيُّ فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ أَرْبَعِينَ مِنْهَا قُبِضَ, قَالَ: فَكَانَ الْمَشْيَخَةُ يَقُولُونَ: إِذَا قُرِئَتْ عِنْدَ الْمَيِّتِ خُفِّفَ عَنْهُ بِهَا (قَالَ صَفْوَانُ): وَقَرَأَهَا عِيسَى بْنُ الْمُعْتَمِرِ عِنْدَ ابْنِ مَعْبَدٍ.
Aḥmad said: Abū al-Mughīrah related to us; Ṣafwān related to us; the elders told me that they were present with Ghuḍayf ibn al-Ḥārith al-Thumāli when his death throes grew intense. He said, ‘Is there anyone among you who can recite Yā Sīn?’ Ṣāliḥ ibn Shurayḥ al-Sakūnī recited it. When he had recited forty verses, Ghuḍayf died. The elders used to say, ‘If it is recited in the presence of the dying person, he is eased by it.’ Ṣafwān said: ʿĪsā ibn al-Muʿtamir recited it in the presence of Ibn Maʿbad.
Translation notes
قَالَ أَحْمَدُ: حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْمُغِيرَةِ حَدَّثَنَا صَفْوَانُ حَدَّثَنِي الْمَشْيَخَةُ أَنَّهُمْ حَضَرُوا غُضَيْفَ بْنَ الْحَارِثِ الثُّمَالِيَّ حِينَ اشْتَدَّ سَوْقُهُ قَالَ: هَلْ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ يَقْرَأُ يس؟
The source phrase حِينَ اشْتَدَّ سَوْقُهُ is unusual; the English witness reads it as intensified death throes, but the exact sense is not established by the phrase alone.
What sense of سَوْقُهُ is intended in this report, and is “death throes” supported by the source wording?