Verses 21–28
In the previous section, God divided people into two groups. Now the discourse turns to warn people by referring to two accounts; first, that of ʿĀd’s people and their destruction and, with it, the destruction of a village in the vicinity of Mecca. The second is the account of a group of the jinn dispatched by God to the Prophet who listened to the Qur’an and believed in it before returning to warn their people. These two stories are only presented here for those who want to take a lesson from them. The verses we are about to discuss contain the first of these two accounts.
Commentary
وَاذْكُرْ أَخَا عَادٍ إِذْ أَنْذَرَ قَوْمَهُ بِالْأَحْقَافِ وَقَدْ خَلَتِ النُّذُرُ مِنْ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا اللَّهَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ٢١
(46:21) And mention [Hūd] the brother of ʿĀd, when he warned his people at Aḥqāf—and warners have passed away in front of him and behind him—saying, “Do not worship anyone but God. Indeed I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day.”
The brother of a particular people means someone who is related to them through his father. The brother of ʿĀd refers to the Prophet Hūd, and Aḥqāf was their abode. It is certain that they lived in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, but there is no trace of them today. Commentators have disagreed where exactly this was. Some say it was in a valley between Oman and Mahra (Eastern Yemen), while others say it was the dunes between Oman and Hadhramaut. Others still say it is a stretch of dunes overlooking the sea near Shihr in Yemen. There have been other suggestions too.
…and warners have passed away in front of him and behind him…Based on the context, warners refers to messengers. As for those who expand the scope of “warners” to include both messengers and the scholars who are their deputies, this is not the proper place for that.
They have explained in front of him as referring to those before him and behind him as meaning those who came after him, although the opposite is also possible by reading in front of him as referring to those who were in his time and behind him meaning those who came beforehand. For the first reading, it is most appropriate to understand in front of him and behind him to mean that he came to them and warned them after a gap in messengers.
…saying, “Do not worship anyone but God: This expounds the nature of his warning. It also alludes to the fact that the foundation of religion to which all its particularities return is Divine Unity.
…Indeed I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day”: This explains the reason why he is calling them to Divine Unity, and apparently a tremendous day refers to the punishment of being wiped out in this world rather than the Day of Resurrection. This is shown by what they say next—Then bring us what you threaten us! ()—and his saying; Rather it is what you sought to hasten (). The remainder of the meaning is clear.
قَالُوا أَجِئْتَنَا لِتَأْفِكَنَا عَنْ آلِهَتِنَا فَأْتِنَا بِمَا تَعِدُنَا إِنْ كُنْتَ مِنَ الصَّادِقِينَ٢٢
(46:22) They said, “Have you come to turn us away from our gods? Then bring us what you threaten us with, should you be truthful.”
This is the response of Hūd’s people to his preaching. The word turn us away (taʾfikanā) is derived from the root ifk meaning falsehood and calumny, but here is used in the sense of diverting. So the meaning is: “Have you come to turn us away from our Gods falsely and slanderously?”
Then bring us what you threaten us with, should you be truthful: They challenge Hūd to invoke the punishment, seeking to demonstrate his inability to do so and thereby expose him as a fraud and a liar in his preaching.
قَالَ إِنَّمَا الْعِلْمُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَأُبَلِّغُكُمْ مَا أُرْسِلْتُ بِهِ وَلَٰكِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ قَوْمًا تَجْهَلُونَ ٢٣
(46:23) He said, “The knowledge is with God alone. I communicate to you what I have been sent with. But I see that you are a senseless lot.”
This is Hūd’s response to their challenge and a repudiation of them. He says the knowledge is with God alone, which limits the knowledge of when this punishment will befall them to God because it belongs to the Unseen whose reality is known only to God. This alludes to the fact that Hūd has no knowledge of what the punishment is, or how or when it will take place. That is why he follows this by saying: I communicate to you what I have been sent with. In other words, I communicate whatever I have been given to bring you; I have no knowledge of the punishment I have been commanded to warn you of—what is it, how will it happen, when will it be? I have no power to answer these questions.
…But I see that you are a senseless lot: Here he turns aside from what he was saying before about not having any knowledge. It means: “I have no knowledge of the punishment you are hastening but I can see that you are a senseless people; you do not distinguish between what will help you and what will harm you, or what is good and what is evil, as you reject the call of God, deny His signs and mock the punishment He warns you of.”
فَلَمَّا رَأَوْهُ عَارِضًا مُسْتَقْبِلَ أَوْدِيَتِهِمْ قَالُوا هَٰذَا عَارِضٌ مُمْطِرُنَا ۚ بَلْ هُوَ مَا اسْتَعْجَلْتُمْ بِهِ ۖ رِيحٌ فِيهَا عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ٢٤
(46:24) When they saw it as a cloud advancing toward their valleys, they said, “This cloud brings us rain.” “Rather it is what you sought to hasten: a hurricane carrying a painful punishment,
This describes the punishment as it descended towards them and how it appeared in their eyes. The word used for cloud here is ʿāriḍ which means a cloud that appears on the horizon and then covers the sky. The phrase as a cloud is an adjective for it, as is advancing toward their valleys. When they said “This cloud brings us rain,” this shows they actually became happy because they thought that the cloud was going to bring rain and said: “What we are seeing is a cloud that is bringing rain for us.”
“Rather it is what you sought to hasten, a hurricane carrying a painful punishment: This refutes their saying this cloud brings us rain by turning aside from it (saying rather…) to expound the reality of the situation. First, this shows that this is the divine punishment by deriding them, saying, “This is what you sought to hasten when you said, ‘Then bring us what you threaten us with, should you be truthful.’” Second, he explains the nature of the punishment, adding: a hurricane carrying a painful punishment.
The speaker here is God, although some have said it is the speech of the Prophet Hūd.
تُدَمِّرُ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ بِأَمْرِ رَبِّهَا فَأَصْبَحُوا لَا يُرَىٰ إِلَّا مَسَاكِنُهُمْ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي الْقَوْمَ الْمُجْرِمِينَ ٢٥
(46:25) destroying everything by its Lord’s command.” So they became such that nothing could be seen except their dwellings. Thus do We requite the guilty lot.
Destroying (tadmīr) means wiping out (ihlāk). By making everything (kulla shayʾ) its object, this would suggest general destruction. However, the context narrows this to include just people, animals and property, rather than the land as a whole. This renders the meaning: “That wind is the wind that destroys all people, animals and property in its path.”
So they became such that nothing could be seen except their dwellings—this describes the result of the punishment.
Thus do We requite the guilty lot—this offers a general rule for requiting the guilty by drawing a general comparison to an exemplary case; in this case, the comparison is being drawn to the severity of the punishment. In other words, “Our habit when we requite the guilty is in this way, whose severity we have just recounted.” This is like when God says, Such is the seizing of your Lord when He seizes the townships that are wrongdoing. Indeed His seizing is painful, severe ().
وَلَقَدْ مَكَّنَّاهُمْ فِيمَا إِنْ مَكَّنَّاكُمْ فِيهِ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُمْ سَمْعًا وَأَبْصَارًا وَأَفْئِدَةً فَمَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُمْ سَمْعُهُمْ وَلَا أَبْصَارُهُمْ وَلَا أَفْئِدَتُهُمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِذْ كَانُوا يَجْحَدُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَحَاقَ بِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ ٢٦
(46:26) Certainly We had granted them power in respects that We have not granted you, and We had vested them with hearing and sight and hearts. But neither their hearing availed them nor did their sight, nor their hearts, in any way when they used to impugn the signs of God. So they were besieged by what they used to deride.
This is an admonition for the disbelievers in Mecca which is drawn from the account given above. “To establish” (tamkīn) literally means to settle something and make it firm; here, it alludes to giving them power and the ability to act upon the world. The meaning is: “We certainly made the people of Hūd superior to you, O disbelievers of Mecca, in physical strength, vigor, might and power as a people.”
…and We had vested them with hearing and sight and hearts: In other words, we endowed them with faculties that would enable them to apprehend what brings them benefit and harm, namely hearing and sight, and what allows them to distinguish between the two, so that they could use these faculties to win benefit and repel harm for themselves. And we gave these faculties to you too.
But neither their hearing availed them nor did their sight, nor their hearts, in any way when they used to impugn the signs of God: In short, this means: They were given power that has not been granted to you, and they had all the faculties of perception and discernment which a person uses to repel harm and protect him from visible dangers. But these senses and faculties did not avail them or benefit them in any way when they stubbornly rejected God’s signs. So, O disbelievers of Mecca, what reason have you to feel safe from God’s punishment when you obstinately deny His signs?
It is said that this verse means: We established them in the same way we established you, with power and strength. And gave them hearing, sights and hearts so that they could use these for the purposes for which we created them; so that they could hear the word of truth, see the signs of Divine Unity and take admonition by pondering on lessons. Then, by using their intellects, they could correctly deduce that they had an Origin and a Destination. However, their hearing, sights and hearts were of no use to them because they did not use them to obtain knowledge of God.
However, what we have mentioned above is more appropriate to the context.
Some commentators have interpreted words in the verse in various ways, but we have not seen it worthwhile to mention them here.
And we have mentioned in other places where the words “hearing, sights and hearts” appear that the word hearing (samʿ) is used in the singular—while the intended meaning is plural—because it originally has the meaning of a verbal noun, like the Arabic words ḍayf (“guest”), qurbān (“sacrifice”), and junub (“ritually impure”). Elsewhere, God says: Did you receive the story of Abraham’s honoured guests (ḍayf)? (); When the two of them offered offerings (qurbān) (); If you [pl.] are junub [sing.] ().
So they were besieged by what they used to deride: This is joined to but neither their hearing availed them.
وَلَقَدْ أَهْلَكْنَا مَا حَوْلَكُمْ مِنَ الْقُرَىٰ وَصَرَّفْنَا الْآيَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ٢٧
(46:27) Certainly We destroyed towns that were around you and We have disposed the signs so that they may come back.
This is a reminder and a warning that follows from the admonition Certainly We had established them… so it is joined to this rather than And mention the brother of ʿĀd… ().
…and We have disposed the signs so that they may come back. In other words, We have made different signs—such as the miracles with which We supported the Prophets, the revelation We sent down to them and the blessings We have provided them with—in order that people take a lesson from them, and We have tried them with hardships so that they might repent and turn aside from their wrongdoing. All of this is in the hope that they will come back to worship God alone instead of worshipping others.
“They” in So that they may come back refers to the villages, meaning their inhabitants.
فَلَوْلَا نَصَرَهُمُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ قُرْبَانًا آلِهَةً ۖ بَلْ ضَلُّوا عَنْهُمْ ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ إِفْكُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ ٢٨
(46:28) So why did not those [false gods] help them whom they had taken, besides God, as gods, as means of nearness [to Him]? Rather they forsook them; and that was their lie and what they used to fabricate.
From the context, as gods is the second object for the verb they took, with the first object being those. And this statement is meant as derision, in other words: “Why didn’t those they took as gods help them even though they were using them to seek nearness to God, as they say: ‘We only worship them so that they may bring us near to God’ ().”
Rather they forsook them…: Meaning that the gods forsook the inhabitants of the villages. In other words, the bond of lordship (rubūbiyyah) and servanthood (ʿubūdiyyah), which they had professed and which they had expected to save them in times of hardship, was broken. The fact that their gods “forsook” them refers to the falsity of their claims.
…and that was their lie and what they used to fabricate: This refers to their gods forsaking them. That was their lie means that it was the effect of their lie, and what here is used in the sense of a verbal noun (i.e. “their fabrication”).
This means: “That their gods forsook them was a result of their lying and fabrication.”
We can also read this statement in another way, namely as referring to their destruction after being presented with God’s signs and their gods forsaking them. In this case, the meaning can be rendered thus: “The fate we have mentioned for them here is the reality of their claim that their gods will intercede on their behalf and bring them closer to God which is a lie and fabrication they contrived.” This also is a derision.