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Verses 73–79
وَ إِلى ثَمُودَ أَخاهُمْ صالِحاً قالَ يا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ ما لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلهٍ غَيْرُهُ قَدْ جاءَتْكُمْ بَيِّنَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ هذِهِ ناقَةُ اللَّهِ لَكُمْ آيَةً فَذَرُوها تَأْكُلْ فِي أَرْضِ اللَّهِ وَ لا تَمَسُّوها بِسُوءٍ فَيَأْخُذَكُمْ عَذابٌ أَلِيمٌ ٧٣ وَ اذْكُرُوا إِذْ جَعَلَكُمْ خُلَفاءَ مِنْ بَعْدِ عادٍ وَ بَوَّأَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ تَتَّخِذُونَ مِنْ سُهُولِها قُصُوراً وَ تَنْحِتُونَ الْجِبالَ بُيُوتاً فَاذْكُرُوا آلاءَ اللَّهِ وَ لا تَعْثَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ ٧٤ قالَ الْمَلَأُ الَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا مِنْ قَوْمِهِ لِلَّذِينَ اسْتُضْعِفُوا لِمَنْ آمَنَ مِنْهُمْ أَ تَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّ صالِحاً مُرْسَلٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِ قالُوا إِنَّا بِما أُرْسِلَ بِهِ مُؤْمِنُونَ ٧٥ قالَ الَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا إِنَّا بِالَّذِي آمَنْتُمْ بِهِ كافِرُونَ ٧٦ فَعَقَرُوا النَّاقَةَ وَ عَتَوْا عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهِمْ وَ قالُوا يا صالِحُ ائْتِنا بِما تَعِدُنا إِنْ كُنْتَ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ ٧٧ فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الرَّجْفَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا فِي دارِهِمْ جاثِمِينَ ٧٨ فَتَوَلَّى عَنْهُمْ وَ قالَ يا قَوْمِ لَقَدْ أَبْلَغْتُكُمْ رِسالَةَ رَبِّي وَ نَصَحْتُ لَكُمْ وَ لكِنْ لا تُحِبُّونَ النَّاصِحِينَ ٧٩
- And to [the people of] Thamūd, Ṣāliḥ, their brother. He said, “O my people, worship Allah! You have no other god besides Him. There has certainly come to you a manifest proof from your Lord. This she-camel of Allah is a sign for you. So let her alone to graze [freely] in Allah’s land, and do not cause her any harm, for then you shall be seized by a painful punishment.
- Remember when He made you successors after [the people of] ʿĀd, and settled you in the land: you build palaces in its plains, and hew houses out of the mountains. So remember Allah’s bounties, and do not act wickedly on the earth, causing corruption.”
- The elite of his people who were arrogant said to those who were abased—to those among them who had faith—”Do you know that Ṣāliḥ has been sent by his Lord?” They said, “We indeed believe in what he has been sent with.”
- Those who were arrogant said, “We indeed disbelieve in what you have believed.”
- So they hamstrung the She-camel and defied the command of their Lord, and they said, “O Ṣāliḥ, bring us what you threaten us with, if you are one of the messengers.”
- So the earthquake seized them, and they lay lifeless prostrate in their homes.
- So he abandoned them [to their fate], and said, “O my people! Certainly I communicated to you the message of my Lord, and I was your well-wisher, but you did not like well-wishers.”
Commentary
وَ إِلى ثَمُودَ أَخاهُمْ صالِحاً قالَ يا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ ما لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلهٍ غَيْرُهُ قَدْ جاءَتْكُمْ بَيِّنَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ هذِهِ ناقَةُ اللَّهِ لَكُمْ آيَةً فَذَرُوها تَأْكُلْ فِي أَرْضِ اللَّهِ وَ لا تَمَسُّوها بِسُوءٍ فَيَأْخُذَكُمْ عَذابٌ أَلِيمٌ ٧٣
(7:73) And to [the people of] Thamūd, Ṣāliḥ, their brother. He said, “O my people, worship Allah! You have no other god besides Him. There has certainly come to you a manifest proof from your Lord. This she-camel of Allah is a sign for you. So let her alone to graze [freely] in Allah’s land, and do not cause her any harm, for then you shall be seized by a painful punishment.
Thamūd was an ancient community of Arabs living in al-Aḥqāf (lit. sand-dunes) in Yemen. God sent them Ṣāliḥ, their brother, meaning that he was of the same tribe.
… He said, “O my people, worship Allah! You have no other god besides Him…”: He called his people to monotheism since they were polytheists and used to worship idols. This is much like the missions of Noah and Hūd, who were sent to polytheist tribes.
… There has certainly come to you a manifest proof (bayyinah) from your Lord…: Bayyinah means “decisive witness or evidence.” Ṣāliḥ pointed to this manifest proof and said: This she-camel of Allah is a sign for you. That was a she-camel that God brought out for them from the mountain by Ṣāliḥ’s supplication. The ascription of the she-camel to God shows a special divine relation and attention (ʿināyah).
… So let her alone to graze [freely] in Allah’s land…: The letter fāʾ (so, therefore, then) at the beginning of this sentence shows that this order is consequent to the she-camel being a sign of God. This law was a restriction on them which could result in God’s exterminating punishment. Such punishments serve as the final decision between a prophet and his people. God says: There is a messenger for every nation; so when their messenger comes, judgement is made between them with justice, and they are not wronged (). The verse implies that leaving the she-camel alone to graze in the land was something demanding and difficult for them to observe. Referring to the land as Allah’s land alludes to this idea.
… and do not cause her any harm, for then you shall be seized by a painful punishment: Ṣāliḥ admonished them and warned them that they should not stop the she-camel from moving around freely. They should not cause any harm to it, such as hamstringing or slaughtering it. Otherwise, its consequence will be a painful punishment that will befall them.
وَ اذْكُرُوا إِذْ جَعَلَكُمْ خُلَفاءَ مِنْ بَعْدِ عادٍ وَ بَوَّأَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ تَتَّخِذُونَ مِنْ سُهُولِها قُصُوراً وَ تَنْحِتُونَ الْجِبالَ بُيُوتاً فَاذْكُرُوا آلاءَ اللَّهِ وَ لا تَعْثَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ ٧٤
(7:74) Remember when He made you successors after [the people of] ʿĀd, and settled you (bawwaʾakum) in the land: you build palaces (quṣūran) in its plains (suhūlihā), and hew houses out of the mountains. So remember Allah’s bounties, and do not act wickedly on the earth, causing corruption.”
Bawwaʾa means makkana (to establish, to settle, to give dwelling). Suhūl is the plural of sahl (plain, lowland), which is the opposite of jabal (mountain, highland). It is called sahl (lit. smooth, flat, easy) because it is easy to walk through. Quṣūr has been defined as “buildings that are fortified by walls.”
Ṣāliḥ, like Hūd [in verse ], told his people to remember God’s blessings upon them. He reminded them of how God had made them succeed previous nations like ʿĀd. God gave them dwellings in the earth where they could settle. He enabled them to build palaces from the plains, and carve houses in the mountains, where they could live and shelter themselves.
… So remember Allah’s bounties…: This is a brief summary of the elaborate enumeration at the beginning of the verse. The letter fāʾ (so, therefore, then) at the beginning of this sentence shows that this is a conclusion and consequence following the previous part. It suggests that what is stated here is different from what was mentioned before. He first ordered them to remember God’s bounties and counted a list of them, as if they were ignorant of them. Then he said: “Now that God has blessed you with such great bounties that I enumerated for you, so remember Allah’s bounties.”
… and do not act wickedly (taʿtahw, from ʿathy) on the earth, causing corruption: The conjunction “and” joins this sentence to So remember, as a necessary implication of it. Three definitions have been offered for the word ʿathy: (1) fasād (corruption, mischief, ruin); (2) iḍṭirāb (disturbance, disorder, agitation); (3) mubālaghah (excess, overabundance, exaggeration). Al-Rāghib says in al-Mufaradāt:
ʿAyth and ʿathy are similar in meaning, much like jadhb and jabdh (attraction, pull). The difference is that ʿayth is more commonly used for corruption that is observed by the senses, while ʿathy is more used for corruption that is observed intellectually. It is used as ʿathiya yaʿthá ʿithyan. Thus the Qur’an says: and do not act wickedly (taʿthaw) on the earth, causing corruption ().
قالَ الْمَلَأُ الَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا مِنْ قَوْمِهِ لِلَّذِينَ اسْتُضْعِفُوا لِمَنْ آمَنَ مِنْهُمْ أَ تَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّ صالِحاً مُرْسَلٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِ قالُوا إِنَّا بِما أُرْسِلَ بِهِ مُؤْمِنُونَ ٧٥ قالَ الَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا إِنَّا بِالَّذِي آمَنْتُمْ بِهِ كافِرُونَ ٧٦
(7:75-76) The elite of his people who were arrogant said to those who were abased—to those among them who had faith—”Do you know that Ṣāliḥ has been sent by his Lord?” They said, “We indeed believe in what he has been sent with.” Those who were arrogant said, “We indeed disbelieve in what you have believed.”
To those among them who had faith is used interchangeably and interpretively for those who were abased. This shows that the mustaḍʿafūn (the abased, the disadvantaged, the oppressed) were the believers, and the believers were the mustaḍʿafūn. No one among the arrogant elite of his tribe believed in Ṣāliḥ. The rest of the two verses should be clear.
فَعَقَرُوا النَّاقَةَ وَ عَتَوْا عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهِمْ وَ قالُوا يا صالِحُ ائْتِنا بِما تَعِدُنا إِنْ كُنْتَ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ ٧٧
(7:77) So they hamstrung (fa-ʿaqarū) the She-camel and defied (ʿataw, from ʿutuww) the command of their Lord, and they said, “O Ṣāliḥ, bring us what you threaten us with, if you are one of the messengers.”
When one uproots a palm tree, it is said, ʿaqara al-nakhlah. When used for a camel, it means either (1) slaughtering the camel (called naḥr); or (2) cutting its legs. ʿUtuww means “revolt, refusal.” Here it is used with the particle ʿan (from, of), which shows that their revolt and refusal was out of arrogance and pride (which amounts to defiance). The rest of the verse should be clear.
فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الرَّجْفَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا فِي دارِهِمْ جاثِمِينَ ٧٨ فَتَوَلَّى عَنْهُمْ وَ قالَ يا قَوْمِ لَقَدْ أَبْلَغْتُكُمْ رِسالَةَ رَبِّي وَ نَصَحْتُ لَكُمْ وَ لكِنْ لا تُحِبُّونَ النَّاصِحِينَ ٧٩
(7:78-79) So the earthquake (al-rajfah) seized them, and they lay lifeless prostrate (jāthimīn, from juthūm) in their homes. So he abandoned them [to their fate], and said, “O my people! Certainly I communicated to you the message of my Lord, and I was your well-wisher, but you did not like well-wishers.”
Rajfah means “severe shaking and vibration,” as in an earthquake or a turbulent sea. When a camel rests its chest on the ground, it is called burūk. The same act by a human or a bird is called juthūm. Here God says that the cause of their death was that they were seized by a rajfah (shaking, quake). Elsewhere He says: The Cry seized those who were wrongdoers (); So the bolt of a humiliating punishment seized them (). The connection is that thunderbolts are accompanied by frightening roars. Usually, the atmospheric turbulence is also transferred to the earth in the form of a quake. It could also be that rajfah here means the quivering of their hearts and bodies [out of terror]. Therefore, their punishment was a bolt generated in the sky, accompanied with a dreadful cry, and causing a quake in the earth or in their hearts. As a result, they ended up in their homes jāthimīn, which means “fell down on their faces and knees.” Their homes here means “their city.”
This verse is not concerned with how this exterminating punishment was brought about. Instead, its main theme is to say that this punishment was directed at them because of disbelieving and wronging a sign and miracle of God. The rest of the meaning should be clear.
This is a mistake. It was the tribe ʿĀd which lived in al-Aḥqāf, as stated in verse . Thamūd lived in a land called al-Ḥijr, as mentioned in verse . (Trans.) ↩︎
That is, since this was a challenging imposition, Ṣāliḥ had to remind them explicitly: “This is God’s land, not yours, so you have no right to stop His she-camel from freely grazing in His land.” (Trans.) ↩︎