046- AL-AHQAF
THE SAND DUNES
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL
# Ḥā. Mīm. # The revelation of the Book from God, the Mighty, the Wise. # We did not create the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them, save in truth and for a term appointed. Yet those who disbelieve turn away from that of which they were warned. # Say, “Have you considered that which you call upon apart from God? Show me that which they have created of the earth. Or do they have a share in the heavens? Bring me a book before this or some vestige of knowledge, if you are truthful.” # Who is more astray than one who calls, apart from God, upon such as do not answer him, [even] unto the Day of Resurrection, and who are heedless of their calling? # When mankind is gathered, such will be enemies unto them and deniers of their worship. # Yet when Our signs are recited unto them as clear proofs, those who disbelieve say to the truth when it comes to them, “This is manifest sorcery.” # Or do they say, “He has fabricated it”? Say, “Had I fabricated it, you would not be able to avail me aught against God. He knows best that about which you carry on. He suffices as a Witness between me and you, and He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.” # Say, “I am no innovation among the messengers, and I know not what will be done with me or with you. I only follow that which has been revealed unto me, and I am naught but a clear warner.” # Say, “Have you considered if it is from God and you disbelieve in it, though a witness from the Children of Israel bore witness to the like thereof, then believed in it, while you waxed arrogant? Surely God guides not wrongdoing people.” # And those who disbelieve say of those who believe, “Had it been good, they would not have outstripped us in [attaining] it.” Since they will not be guided by it, they will say, “This is an ancient perversion.” # Yet before it there was the Book of Moses, a guide and a mercy. This is a Book that confirms in an Arabic tongue to warn wrongdoers, and a glad tiding for the virtuous. # Truly those who say, “Our Lord is God, # then stand firm, no fear shall come upon them; nor shall they grieve. # They are the inhabitants of the Garden, abiding therein, as a recompense for that which they used to do. # And We have enjoined man to be virtuous unto his parents. His mother carried him in travail and bore him in travail, and his gestation and weaning is thirty months, such that when he reaches maturity and reaches forty years he says, “My Lord inspire me to give thanks for Thy blessing with which Thou hast blessed me and hast blessed my parents, and that I may work righteousness such that it pleases Thee; and make righteous for me my progeny. Truly I turn in repentance unto Thee, and truly I am among those who submit.” # They are those from whom We accept the best of that which they have done and over whose evil deeds We pass. [They] will be among the inhabitants of the Garden—the true promise that they were promised. # As for one who says to his parents, “Fie upon you both! Do you promise me that I shall be brought forth when generations have passed away before me?” while they call upon God for succor, “Woe unto you! Believe! Surely God’s Promise is true.” Whereat he says, “This is naught but fables of those of old.” # They are those for whom the Word among the communities of jinn and men that had passed before them came due. Truly they are lost. # For each there are degrees according to that which they have done. He will pay them for their deeds in full, and they will not be wronged. # And the day when those who disbelieve are exposed to the Fire: “You squandered your good things in your life in the world and sought enjoyment therein; so today you are recompensed with the punishment of disgrace for having waxed arrogant upon the earth without right and for having been iniquitous.” # And mention the brother of ʿĀd, when he warned his people by the sand dunes; warners had passed away before him and after him, [saying], “Worship none but God. Truly I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day.” # They said, “Have you come to us to pervert us from our gods? Then bring upon us that wherewith you have threatened us, if you are among the truthful.” # He said, “Knowledge lies with God alone, and I only convey to you that wherewith I have been sent. But I see that you are an ignorant people.” # And when they beheld it as a cloud bound for their valleys, they said, “This is a cloud bringing us rain.” Nay! It is what you sought to hasten—a wind carrying a painful punishment, # destroying everything by the Command of its Lord. They became such that naught was seen but their dwellings. Thus do We recompense the guilty people. # Indeed We established them in a manner in which We did not establish you, and We endowed them with hearing, sight, and hearts. But their hearing, sight, and hearts availed them naught, since they rejected God’s signs, and that which they used to mock beset them. # And indeed We destroyed the towns around you, and We vary the signs that haply they might return. # Why, then, did they—whom they had taken as gods apart from God and as a means of drawing nigh [unto God]—not help them? Nay, they forsook them. That was their perversion and that which they used to fabricate. # And [remember] when We made a group of jinn incline unto thee, listening to the Quran, when in its presence they said, “Hearken!” Then when it came to an end, they went back to their people as warners. # They said, “O our people! Truly we have heard a Book sent down after Moses, confirming that which came before it, guiding to the truth and to a straight road. # O our people! Answer God’s caller and believe in him, then He will forgive you some of your sins and protect you from a painful punishment. # And whosoever does not answer God’s caller thwarts not on earth and has no protectors apart from Him—they are in manifest error.” # Have they not considered that God, Who created the heavens and the earth and did not weary in their creation, is able to give life to the dead? Yea! He is Powerful over all things. # On the day when those who disbelieve are exposed to the Fire: “Is this not true?” They will say, “Yea, by our Lord!” He will reply, “Taste the punishment for having disbelieved.” # So be patient, as the resolute among the messengers were patient. And seek not to hasten for them. It shall be for them, on the day when they see that which they are promised, as though they had tarried naught but an hour of a day. A proclamation! Will any but the iniquitous people be destroyed?
Commentary
# Ḥā. Mīm.
1 This sūrah is the last in a series of seven sūrahs that open with the Arabic letters ḥāʾ and mīm and are referred to collectively as the Ḥawāmīm. The letters ḥāʾ and mīm are among the separated letters (al-muqaṭṭaʿāt) that are found at the beginning of twenty-nine sūrahs and whose meanings are considered by most commentators to be known only to God; see 2:1c. For some possible meanings of the letters ḥāʾ and mīm, see 40:1c.
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# The revelation of the Book from God, the Mighty, the Wise.
2 Cf. 39:1; 40:2; 45:2. For the meaning of this verse, see 39:1c. For other possible readings, see 40:2c. Here al-Maybudī notes that the Mighty can also be read as an active participle meaning “the One Who makes mighty” or “the One Who exalts” and writes, “The name means that He exalted the believers by making them the object of His address and worthy of His book and message.”
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# We did not create the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them, save in truth and for a term appointed. Yet those who disbelieve turn away from that of which they were warned.
3 We did not create . . . save in truth is repeated in 15:85, while in 30:8 the same concept is conveyed in the third-person singular (see also 44:39). In truth indicates both that the world is created with precision and perfection and that the nature of the created world is just (R). Regarding the Quranic idea that all of creation came in truth, or “through truth,” see 6:73c; 15:85; 44:38–39c. For a term appointed (2:282; 11:3; 13:2; 14:10; 16:61; 22:5, 33; 30:8; 31:29; 35:13, 45; 39:42; 42:14; 71:4) refers to the duration of the world and thus alludes to both the final end of the heavens and the earth (IJ) and the Final Judgment (see 35:45; 71:14). Save . . . for a term appointed (Q, R, Ṭ) thus indicates that creation, as it is other than God, cannot but have a beginning and an end, as in 28:88: All things perish, save His Face; see 10:24c. As translated, the last sentence of the present verse reiterates that many people turn away from the messengers God sends. It could also be read, “Those who deny that of which they were warned turn away,” meaning that they turned away from understanding the true nature of creation, thus implying that they do not reflect upon the signs of God and the ephemeral nature of the world (R).
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# Say, “Have you considered that which you call upon apart from God? Show me that which they have created of the earth. Or do they have a share in the heavens? Bring me a book before this or some vestige of knowledge, if you are truthful.”
4 This is one of several verses that challenge the disbelievers to bring something to verify their claims (see also 2:23c; 10:38c; 21:24; 37:156–57; 54:43c; 68:37). That which you call upon apart from God means idols or beings such as jinn whom the idolaters treat as partners with God. Bring me a book is a request that they bring a revealed scripture (Q, R, Ṭ), and some vestige of knowledge means some remnant from the teachings of those of old (Q, R, Ṭ). Others interpret vestige of knowledge to mean something that was written by those before (Q, Ṭ), though it is also understood to mean any authentic report that has been transmitted (R). In all interpretations, it means something that indicates the veracity of the idolaters’ claim that these idols and jinn whom they worship are indeed partners with God (Ṭ). Elsewhere the Quran asks rhetorically, or did We give them a book, such that they stand upon a clear proof from it? (35:40; cf. 34:44; 43:21; 68:37–38).
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# Who is more astray than one who calls, apart from God, upon such as do not answer him, [even] unto the Day of Resurrection, and who are heedless of their calling.
5 Who are heedless of their calling can refer to those upon whom they call or to those who call, the latter meaning that the idolaters are oblivious to the fact that their supplications are in vain.
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# When mankind is gathered, such will be enemies unto them and deniers of their worship.
6 When mankind is gathered refers to the Day of Judgment (see 42:7c). Such will be enemies unto them alludes to the fact that the false objects of worship upon whom the idolaters called in this life will testify against them on the Day of Judgment (Q, Ṭ), saying, Our Lord! These are those whom we perverted. We perverted them as we ourselves were perverse. We disavow [them] before Thee; it was not us whom they worshipped (28:63). It can also be understood to mean that those upon whom they called are their enemies, because calling upon them, and thus attributing partners to God, was the cause of their destruction (Q).
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# Yet when Our signs are recited unto them as clear proofs, those who disbelieve say to the truth when it comes to them, “This is manifest sorcery.”
7 This verse speaks of one of the various ways in which the disbelievers react to the recitation of God’s signs, that is, verses of the Quran; cf. 8:31; 19:73; 22:72; 31:7; 34:43; 42:25; 68:15; 83:13. The charge of manifest sorcery is said to have been brought by the disbelievers against the Quran and several messengers of God, most notably the prophets Moses and Muhammad (see 5:110c; 6:7; 10:2; 11:7; 34:43; 37:15; 43:30; 61:6; 74:24).
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# Or do they say, “He has fabricated it”? Say, “Had I fabricated it, you would not be able to avail me aught against God. He knows best that about which you carry on. He suffices as a Witness between me and you, and He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.”
8 Such charges of fabrication are repeated throughout the Quran; see 10:38c. To attribute anything falsely to God is considered to be among the greatest of sins, thus the Quran frequently asks, Who does greater wrong than one who fabricates a lie against God? (6:21, 144; 7:37; 10:17; 11:18; 29:68; 61:7), meaning, “Who does greater wrong than one who holds to false beliefs or engages in erroneous religious practices?” Here the Prophet is commanded to explain that, were he to make such claims, as others have, God would punish him and that no one could avert His Punishment, as in 5:41: For whomsoever God desires that he be tried, thou hast no power to avail him aught against God (R). For He suf ices as a Witness between me and you, see 29:52c.
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# Say, “I am no innovation among the messengers, and I know not what will be done with me or with you. I only follow that which has been revealed unto me, and I am naught but a clear warner.”
9 I am no innovation among the messengers reaffirms the Quranic position that all revelations contain the same essential message. As the Prophet has said, “The prophets are half brothers; their mothers differ and their religion (dīn) is one.” In this vein al-Tustarī writes of this verse, “That is, ‘There were messengers before me who commanded what I command and forbade what I forbid. I am not a marvel (ʿajab) among the messengers. I do not call you to anything except testifying to God’s Oneness (tawḥīd), and I do not guide you to anything other than the most noble character traits. It was with this [message] that the prophets before me were sent’” (ST; cf. 2:62; 5:69; 26:192–96; 41:43; 78:18–19). For more on the Quranic understanding of the unity of prophethood, see the essay “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions.” I know not what will be done with me or with you most likely indicates that the Prophet was not a fortune-teller, an ability that many of the Arabs expected of a prophet. Some maintain that this phrase was abrogated by 48:2, in which the Prophet is told that God has forgiven him his sins that went before and that which is to come (Q). But the two verses can be seen as references to very different issues: the present verse refers to the events of this world, and 48:2 to forgiveness and reward in the Hereafter, in which case there is no need for abrogation (Q). Regarding I am naught but a clear warner (cf. 11:12; 13:7; 27:92; 34:46; 35:23; 79:45), see 38:65–66c.
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# Say, “Have you considered if it is from God and you disbelieve in it, though a witness from the Children of Israel bore witness to the like thereof, then believed in it, while you waxed arrogant? Surely God guides not wrongdoing people.”
10 If it is from God and you disbelieve in it likely refers to the Quran itself, although the second clause may be rendered “and you disbelieve in him,” meaning that the people disbelieve in the Prophet. Most exegetes interpret a witness from the Children of Israel as a reference to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām, one of the leading Jews of Madinah who followed the Prophet and was rejected by his community for doing so. Bore witness to the like thereof would then imply his bearing witness to the truth of both the Torah and the Quran. In this vein, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās is reported to have said, “I have never heard the Prophet say of anybody walking on the earth that he is from the people of the Garden except ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām. The following verse was revealed concerning him: Though a witness from the Children of Israel bore witness to the like thereof (Ṭ). But if, as many commentators maintain, the whole of this sūrah is from the Makkan period, this verse most likely refers to Moses (Q). In this case, bore witness to the like thereof would again refer to the Torah, in which case the verse is most likely a challenge to the disbelievers, comparing their arrogance in the face of revelation to the Israelites’ acceptance of the Torah. Bore witness to the like thereof could also be read “bore witness to one like him,” implying that Moses foretold the coming of the Prophet Muhammad. In light of the latter interpretation, this verse would be read as an affirmation of 7:157, which refers to the Prophet being inscribed in the Torah and the Gospel. In this vein, many Muslims read Deuteronomy 17:15 and 18:18, among other Biblical verses, as allusions to the Prophet Muhammad.
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# And those who disbelieve say of those who believe, “Had it been good, they would not have outstripped us in [attaining] it.” Since they will not be guided by it, they will say, “This is an ancient perversion.”
11 The objection of the disbelievers among the Quraysh was that those who were of low social standing in Makkah could not have discerned the value of the new religion to which the Prophet called them when the leaders of Quraysh did not, as in 6:53, where they are also reported to say of those who followed the Prophet, Are these the ones whom God has graced among us? Such objections are similar to those voiced by the leaders among Noah’s people, who said, We see none who follow you, save the lowliest among us (11:27), and asked, Shall we believe you, when the lowliest follow you? (26:111). This verse thus relates back to v. 3, because the disbelievers’ arrogance caused them to continue going further astray after they first turned away. They say, This is an ancient perversion, because they deny that whose knowledge they cannot comprehend and whose interpretation has not yet come to them (10:39; Q).
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# Yet before it there was the Book of Moses, a guide and a mercy. This is a Book that confirms in an Arabic tongue to warn wrongdoers, and a glad tiding for the virtuous.
12 From a Quranic perspective, every revelation fulfills the function of guiding and is a mercy for human beings, as is said of the Torah here. This is a Book that confirms refers to the Quran confirming the Torah and the Gospel, among other revelations, as in 5:48: And We have sent down unto thee the Book in truth, confirming the Book that came before it, and as a protector over it. Just as the Quran is God’s Word in Arabic, so too the Torah is considered to have been God’s Word in Hebrew. As al-Dārimī writes, “God knows all languages and speaks in whichever language He wishes: if He wishes, He speaks in Arabic; and if He wishes, He speaks in Hebrew; and if He wishes, in Syriac. So He has made the Quran His Word in Arabic” (al-Dārimī, al-Radd, 123); see commentary on 14:4: And We have sent no messenger, save in the language of his people.
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# Truly those who say, “Our Lord is God, ” then stand firm, no fear shall come upon them; nor shall they grieve.
# They are the inhabitants of the Garden, abiding therein, as a recompense for that which they used to do.
13–14 Then stand firm means that these believers do not confound the truth with falsehood (3:71; cf. 2:42) and do not oppose God’s Commands and Prohibitions (Ṭ). According to some, no fear shall come upon them means that they will have no fear of retribution and will be spared many of the trials that occur on the Day of Resurrection (R). The first part of v. 13 is repeated in 41:30, but there it is the angels who promise that in the Hereafter there shall be no fear or sorrow for the believers; see commentary on 41:30–33. That such rewards will be afforded those who say, “Our Lord is God,” then stand firm could be understood as an allusion to the salvific nature of all revealed religions, as in 2:62: Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabeans—whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon them; nor shall they grieve (cf. 5:59).
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# And We have enjoined man to be virtuous unto his parents. His mother carried him in travail and bore him in travail, and his gestation and weaning is thirty months, such that when he reaches maturity and reaches forty years he says, “My Lord inspire me to give thanks for Thy blessing with which Thou hast blessed me and hast blessed my parents, and that I may work righteousness such that it pleases Thee; and make righteous for me my progeny. Truly I turn in repentance unto Thee, and truly I am among those who submit.”
15 Goodness, gratitude, and virtue toward one’s parents are enjoined in several verses (4:36; 17:23; 29:8; 31:14–15) and are presented as second in importance only to the duty to worship God in other verses (see 2:83; 4:36; 6:151); see 29:8c. To be virtuous translates iḥsān, which means “to make beautiful” or “to do what is beautiful” and comes from a root (ḥ-s-n) meaning “beautiful,” other derivations of which mean “virtue” or “virtuous” in the sense of having a beautiful character and intrinsic morality; see 29:69c. The mention of the mother alone after the mention of both parents indicates that her right to be honored is greater than that of the father (R). In this regard, a well-known ḥadīth reports that a man asked the Prophet, “O Messenger of God, who among the people is most deserving of my good companionship?” He said, “Your mother.” The man asked, “Then who?” The Prophet replied, “Your mother.” He asked again, “Then who?” The Prophet again replied, “Your mother.” After he asked a fourth time, the Prophet replied, “Your father.” The first instance of travail refers to the difficulties of pregnancy, and the second refers to those of childbirth. For the discussion of the combined period of gestation and breast-feeding, which is here said to be thirty lunar months, see 2:233c; 31:13–14c. When he reaches maturity is understood by the majority of commentators to mean thirty-three lunar years, the age at which the body is traditionally thought to reach its peak. Forty years is then the age at which one reaches intellectual (IK) and spiritual maturity, whereupon one can focus more upon worship and obedience to God (R). Forty is also said to be the age of prophethood (R), and according to Islamic teachings all prophets received the call to prophethood at the age of forty, except Jesus, who was aware of his prophetic mission from the moment of his birth (see commentary on 19:30–33). Inspire me to give thanks literally means, “Inspire me to be [in a state of] thankfulness” (R, Ṭū). The prayer for both parents and children may indicate greater awareness of responsibility toward both the older and younger generations that comes with being in the prime of life. Regarding the importance of respecting both the young and the old, a ḥadīth states, “Whosoever is unkind to our young and disrespectful to our old is not one of us.” Make righteous for me my progeny is a request to guide them in faith and in doing what pleases God (Ṭ), which are considered among the greatest blessings for a parent (R). While many Sunni commentators say that this verse was revealed regarding Abū Bakr’s prayer for his parents when they embraced Islam (IJ, JJ, Q, Ṭ), Ḥasan al-Baṣrī says that the verse is general, applying to all Muslims.
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# They are those from whom We accept the best of that which they have done and over whose evil deeds We pass. [They] will be among the inhabitants of the Garden—the true promise that they were promised.
16 They refers to the people who have the attributes described in v. 15 (IK, Ṭ). That God accepts the best of that which they have done (cf. 9:121; 16:96–97; 24:38; 29:7; 39:35) indicates that they are only recompensed for their good deeds, while over whose evil deeds We pass means that they have been absolved of such deeds; see 29:7c. Here the true promise can also be read “the promise of truth.” In either reading it refers to the first part of the verse (Q).
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# As for one who says to his parents, “Fie upon you both! Do you promise me that I shall be brought forth when generations have passed away before me?” while they call upon God for succor, “Woe unto you! Believe! Surely God’s Promise is true.” Whereat he says, “This is naught but fables of those of old.”
17 Saying Fie upon you both is seen by most as referring to every form of disobedience toward parents. Others understood it as specifying those who reject their parents’ call to religion (R). Brought forth refers to the Resurrection. Here the example given would be considered the most egregious, as it also entails disobedience toward God. God’s Promise refers to the promise of the Resurrection, the Gathering, the Reward, and the Punishment (Ṭs, Ṭū). Referring to the revelations as fables of those of old was a common way for the disbelievers to dismiss the Prophet and the revelation (see 6:25; 8:31; 16:2; 23:83; 25:5; 27:68; 68:15; 83:13).
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# They are those for whom the Word among the communities of jinn and men that had passed before them came due. Truly they are lost.
18 That the Word . . . came due (cf. 10:96; 28:63; 36:7, 70; 40:6) indicates God’s Punishment, as in 39:71: But the Word of punishment has come due for the disbelievers.
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# For each there are degrees according to that which they have done. He will pay them for their deeds in full, and they will not be wronged.
19 For each there are degrees pertains to all believers and disbelievers (JJ) and to the hierarchy among them. That God will reward or punish in degrees in accord with people’s actions is also stated in 6:132, while 3:163 speaks of people being ranked in degrees and 6:165 states that God has raised some . . . by degrees above others (see also 6:83; 58:11); see 3:163c; 4:96c. They will not be wronged (cf. 2:281; 6:160; 10:47, 54; 16:111; 36:54; 39:69; 45:22), because every soul will be paid in full for that which it has done (16:111; 39:70; cf. 2:281; 3:25).
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# And the day when those who disbelieve are exposed to the Fire: “You squandered your good things in your life in the world and sought enjoyment therein; so today you are recompensed with the punishment of disgrace for having waxed arrogant upon the earth without right and for having been iniquitous.”
20 Exposed to the Fire (yuʿriḍu ʿala’l-nār) indicates that the disbelievers are thrown into it or shown its terrors before being thrown into it (R). It can also mean “killed or destroyed by the Fire,” as in the Arabic phrase ʿuriḍa ʿāla’l-sayf, meaning, “He was killed by the sword” (Aj). Squandered your good things in your life in the world means they enjoyed the things of this world and followed their lusts (Q), so that during this life they already spent the share of good that was destined for them and will have no share of good in the Hereafter. Regarding the contrast between enjoying goods in this life and in the next, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb is reported to have implored the Prophet to pray to God for prosperity like that of the people of Persia and Byzantium, whereupon the Prophet said, “Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, do you doubt that they are a nation for whom good things have been advanced to them in the life of this world?” (Q), implying that they would not have these goods in the Hereafter. This verse does not reprimand the disbelievers simply for enjoying the things of this world, as such enjoyment is expressly permitted in the Quran (see, e.g., 7:32); rather, it reprimands them for failing to be thankful for the goods God has permitted them and for indulging in those that were not permitted (Q, R). People could thus avail themselves of good things in this world and continue to receive good things in the Hereafter, so long as it is done with a sense of gratitude and proportion. If, however, they waxed arrogant, failing to acknowledge the rights of God and other human beings and thus being iniquitous, they would be subject to the punishment of disgrace.
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# And mention the brother of ʿĀd, when he warned his people by the sand dunes; warners had passed away before him and after him, [saying], “Worship none but God. Truly I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day.”
21 The brother of ʿĀd is the prophet Hūd, who was sent to the tribe of ʿĀd in the Ḥaḍramawt region of southern Yemen. For the account of the tribe of ʿĀd, see 7:65–72; 11:50–60; 41:15–16; 54:18–21. Sand dunes translates aḥqāf, which is taken by some as a proper name for a valley in Yemen (JJ). Worship none but God is the same message with which all prophets are said to have been sent. I fear for you implies, “If you disobey me” (Aj). *** ” They said, “Have you come to us to pervert us from our gods? Then bring upon us that wherewith you have threatened us, if you are among the truthful.” 22 To pervert us from our gods means to turn the tribe of ʿĀd away from worshipping their gods (Aj). Their challenge, Bring upon us that wherewith you have threatened us, which refers to the punishment, is similar to the one posed to Noah by his people (7:70; 11:32) and to the prophet Ṣāliḥ by the Arab tribe of Thamūd (7:77). In each case it refers to a manner of mocking the prophets that is similar to the way in which the disbelievers are said to have mocked the Prophet Muhammad, saying, When will this promise come to pass, if you are truthful? (10:48; 21:38; 27:71; 34:29; 36:48; 67:25).
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# He said, “Knowledge lies with God alone, and I only convey to you that wherewith I have been sent. But I see that you are an ignorant people.”
23 Hūd’s response, Knowledge lies with God alone, is what the Prophet Muhammad is also enjoined to say in the face of mocking (see 67:25–26). In both cases it refers to knowledge of when the Day of Judgment will come (Aj).
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# And when they beheld it as a cloud bound for their valleys, they said, “This is a cloud bringing us rain.” Nay! It is what you sought to hasten—a wind carrying a painful punishment,
# destroying everything by the Command of its Lord. They became such that naught was seen but their dwellings. Thus do We recompense the guilty people.
24–25 The people of ʿĀd reportedly suffered from a drought for three years. They then prayed for rain, and when they saw the cloud, they thought it was an answer to their supplications, because they believed they were in fact good and thus deserving of God’s Mercy; see 7:72c. According to the Prophet’s wife ʿĀʾishah, “Whenever the wind was stormy, the Messenger of God would say, ‘O God! I ask Thee for what is good in it, and the good that it contains, and the good of that for which it was sent. I seek refuge with Thee from what is evil in it, what evil it contains, and the evil of that for which it was sent.’ And when there was thunder and lightning in the sky, his color would change; he would go out and in, backward and forward; then when the rain came, he would be relieved, and I noticed that on his face. I asked him about it, and he said, ‘It may be as the people of ʿĀd said, when they saw a cloud formation coming to their valley, This is a cloud bringing us rain’” (IK). That the people of ʿĀd sought to hasten the wind that brought their punishment refers to the manner in which disbelievers, by way of mocking the warnings of the prophets in v. 22, hasten the Punishment of God. This attitude of derision is attributed to all disbelievers in one way or another and is elsewhere contrasted with that of the believers: Those who believe not in it seek to hasten it, and those who believe are wary of it and know that it is the truth (42:18; for other passages where the disbelievers seek to hasten their punishment, see 10:50–51; 13:6; 22:47; 26:204; 27:46, 72; 29:53; 37:176–77; 38:16; 51:14). The people of ʿĀd were destroyed by a howling, raging wind that was inflicted upon them for seven nights and eight days consecutively (69:6–7; cf. 41:16; 54:19). Then they were felled as if they were hollowed palm trunks (69:7; cf. 54:20).
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# Indeed We established them in a manner in which We did not establish you, and We endowed them with hearing, sight, and hearts. But their hearing, sight, and hearts availed them naught, since they rejected God’s signs, and that which they used to mock beset them.
26 The Quraysh are called upon to contemplate the greater power of those who had passed before them, as the tribe of ʿĀd was among the most powerful in the memory of the people of Arabia, the like of which was never created in all the land (89:8). This principle is expressed more broadly in 6:6: Have they not considered how many a generation We destroyed before them? We had established them on the earth more firmly than We have established you. Despite their strength, their hearing, sight, and hearts availed them naught because they did not listen to the revelation, see the signs in creation pointing to the Oneness of God, or reflect upon either (Aj). And that which they used to mock beset them (cf. 6:10; 11:8; 16:34; 21:41; 39:48; 40:83; 45:33) indicates that the punishment they received is a direct result of their own iniquity, since God does not wrong human beings in the least, but rather human beings wrong themselves (10:44). Thus 11:58 clarifies that, although God destroyed the tribe of ʿĀd, He saved Hūd and those who believed with him.
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# And indeed We destroyed the towns around you, and We vary the signs that haply they might return.
27 The towns around you refers to the ʿĀd and other Arabian tribes, such as the Thamūd, who dwelt between Makkah and Syria; Sabāʾ, who were in Yemen; the Midianites, who were on the route to Palestine; and the people of Lot, who are believed to have lived by the Dead Sea (IK), all of whose stories are given as examples in other sūrahs. Regarding We vary the signs (cf. 6:46, 65, 105; 7:58; 17:41), see 6:46c.
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# Why, then, did they—whom they had taken as gods apart from God and as a means of drawing nigh [unto God]—not help them? Nay, they forsook them. That was their perversion and that which they used to fabricate.
28 Just as the Quraysh worshipped idols, so too did the ʿĀd, the Thamūd, and other tribes. The disbelievers are thus asked how the gods they worship will help them, if the gods worshipped by the ʿĀd and the Thamūd did not help them, though those tribes were wealthier and more powerful than the Quraysh (cf. 11:100–101; 21:43; 36:74–75). That they took other gods as a means of drawing nigh [unto God] implies that some disbelievers tried to reconcile their polytheism by envisioning a hierarchy with a single God reigning supreme; see commentary on 39:3, where the disbelievers say of their deities, We do not worship them, save to bring us nigh in nearness unto God.
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# And [remember] when We made a group of jinn incline unto thee, listening to the Quran, when in its presence they said, “Hearken!” Then when it came to an end, they went back to their people as warners.
29 This verse is a reference to a group of jinn (seven or nine, according to most) who came upon the Prophet while he was performing the morning prayer in the valley of Nakhlah during his return to Makkah from the city of Ṭāʾif. After hearing the Quran, the jinn accepted it and then returned to their fellow jinn, enjoining them to accept the Quran and the Prophet. For a full account of this event, see the introduction to Sūrah 72. Here its presence could also be read “his presence,” meaning that of the Prophet (Aj, R, Ṭ).
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# They said, “O our people! Truly we have heard a Book sent down after Moses, confirming that which came before it, guiding to the truth and to a straight road.
30 Some interpret the reference the jinn make to Moses to mean that the jinn had been Jews (IK, R, Ṭ), but given the full context of the story (see the introduction to Sūrah 72), it may simply mean that they are comparing the Quran to another revelation. The Quran is also described as confirming earlier scriptures in 2:41, 89, 91, 97, 101; 3:3, 81; 5:48; 6:92; 35:31. Guiding to the truth can also be understood to mean “guiding to God” (Aj), as “the Truth” (alḤaqq) is one of the Names of God. The way of Islam is referred to throughout the Quran as a straight path, and the straight path (al-sirāṭ al mustaqīm) is often taken as a synonym for Islam, but this is the only verse that refers to a straight road (ṭarīq mustaqīm). Combining the two terms, al-Tustarī writes of this verse, “It indicates that the road of truth is to leave worldly transactions (muʿāmalāt) and formalities (rusūmāt), and to realize the truth, which is the straight path” (ST).
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# O our people! Answer God’s caller and believe in him, then He will forgive you some of your sins and protect you from a painful punishment.
31 God’s caller means the Prophet, while in him can refer to the Prophet or to God (Ṭs) or to all that the Prophet commands (R). Al-Tustarī sees the phrase answer God’s caller and believe in him as an allusion to the mystery of faith in the depths of one’s heart: “In the heart of every believer there is a caller calling him to his sound judgment (rushd). Happy is the one who listens to the call of the caller, and follows it” (ST). Some commentators understand some of your sins to mean that only some sins will be removed by belief (Aj, R), implying that for complete forgiveness one must also act in accord with the revelation. Together, these verses are understood to demonstrate that the jinn are subject to command and prohibition, reward and punishment the same way human beings are, while others maintain that the believers among the jinn are only rewarded with being saved from the Fire (Q).
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# And whosoever does not answer God’s caller thwarts not on earth and has no protectors apart from Him—they are in manifest error.”
32 The reference to “thwarting” God alludes to vv. 4–5, as the jinn were among those upon whom the disbelievers would call to save them. That no one can thwart God or His signs is repeated in over a dozen verses (6:134; 8:59; 9:2–3; 10:53; 11:19–20, 33; 16:46; 22:51; 24:57; 29:22; 34:5, 38; 35:44; 39:51; 42:31;), since from a Quranic perspective naught in the heavens or upon the earth can thwart God (35:44; see also 52:8).
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# Have they not considered that God, Who created the heavens and the earth and did not weary in their creation, is able to give life to the dead? Yea! He is Powerful over all things.
33 This verse presents one of the Quranic arguments for God’s ability to resurrect human beings (IK, Q), as if to say, “If God can create the heavens and the earth, then surely He can give life to the dead” (cf. 40:57c). Regarding the absence of fatigue or weariness from the Divine Nature, see the discussion of Neither slumber overtakes Him nor sleep in 2:255c (also see 50:15).
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# On the day when those who disbelieve are exposed to the Fire: “Is this not true?” They will say, “Yea, by our Lord!” He will reply, “Taste the punishment for having disbelieved.”
34 For exposed to the Fire, see 46:20c. Is this not true? is a rhetorical question posed elsewhere to the disbelievers (see 7:44); this refers to the Fire and the punishment whose reality they had denied. It could also be understood as a reference to God, in which case Is this not true? would be rendered, “Is He not the Truth?” Even though they now realize the truth and admit to it, the gates of repentance have been closed, and they are cast into the Fire and thus made to taste the punishment (cf. 3:106, 181; 4:56; 6:30; 8:35, 50; 22:22; 32:14, 20; 34:12; 34:42).
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# So be patient, as the resolute among the messengers were patient. And seek not to hasten for them. It shall be for them, on the day when they see that which they are promised, as though they had tarried naught but an hour of a day. A proclamation! Will any but the iniquitous people be destroyed?
35 The injunction Be patient is addressed to the Prophet or to all Muslims. The resolute among the messengers is most often understood to mean the messengers who brought a new Book and a new revealed law from God: Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, who are listed together in 33:7 and 42:13, and Muhammad (IK, Kā). There are, however, other proposals for the referent, ranging from three prophets—Noah, Hūd, and Abraham—to all the prophets (Q). Relating this term directly to the specific trials many prophets endured, al-Tustarī writes, “The resolute among the messengers are Abraham, God’s friend; he was tried with fire, and with the sacrifice of a son, but was content and submitted. Job was tried by trials, and Ishmael [was tried] with the sacrifice, and was content. Noah [was tried] with denial but was patient, while Jonah was in the belly of the fish, but called [upon God] and sought refuge [in Him]. Joseph [was tried] with prison and the well, but he did not change, and Jacob was tested by the loss of his sight and the loss of a son, but he complained of his grief only to God and did not complain to anyone other than Him. There are twelve prophets who were patient with what befell them, and they are the resolute among the messengers” (ST). The Prophet is enjoined not to pray for punishment to be hastened against the disbelievers, as some prophets had done in the past, since their punishment would come in due course (JJ, Q). This postponement can be understood as a mercy from God or to mean that God has a greater punishment for them in the Hereafter (see 41:16). Either way, the reality and duration of the Hereafter will make the life of this world seem for them as though they had tarried naught but an hour of a day (cf. 10:45; 17:52; 23:112–14; 30:55; 79:46). The iniquitous are destroyed by being punished in the Hereafter, but moreover by being led astray (see 2:26) and made to forget God, resulting in distance from Him and from their true selves, as in 59:19: And be not like those who forget God, such that He makes them forget their souls. It is they who are the iniquitous.
Source: The Study Quran, by Sayyed Hossein Nasr and 4 Others
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