Verses 9–42
This section of verses cites stories of past nations that contain warnings for the Prophet’s audience. In particular, it singles out the peoples of Noah, ʿĀd, Thamūd, Lot, and Pharaoh. It reminds its audience of their experiences by summarizing the accounts they would have heard previously and calling attention to the terrible and painful punishments that befell them as a result of denying the signs of God, His messengers. This is illustrated by the line in the previous section, There have already come to them reports containing admonishment ().
And to emphasise the message behind this retelling and give form to the terrifying warnings they contain, God follows each and every one of the accounts with the question, So how were My punishment and My warnings? (, 21, 30), before emphasizing the purpose of these stories to warn and admonish with the question, Certainly We have made the Qur’an simple for the sake of admonishment. So is there anyone who will be admonished? ()
Commentary
كَذَّبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ فَكَذَّبُوا عَبْدَنَا وَقَالُوا مَجْنُونٌ وَازْدُجِرَ ٩
(54:9) The people of Noah impugned before them. So they impugned Our servant and said, ‘A crazy man, and one possessed!’
Note that the verse uses the verb ‘impugn’ (takdhīb) twice. However, note that the first one—the people of Noah impugned before them—does not take a direct object, it merely says that they impugned. The second instance—So they impugned Our servant—does, as it is an explanation of the first one. This is similar to the verse, Noah called out to his Lord, and said, ‘My Lord! My son is indeed from my family. Your promise is indeed true, and You are the fairest of all judges’ ().
Some have said that the meaning of the first instance of ‘impugn’ is that they impugned the messengers generally, while the second instance refers to them impugning Noah specifically. This is in the same vein as the verse in Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ, The people of Noah impugned the messengers (). In this case, the meaning of the verse would be: ‘The people of Noah denied the messengers, therefore they denied Noah.’ This is a sound reading of the verse.
Others have said that this shows that they denied Noah continuously: The people of Noah impugned him throughout his mission, and whenever one generation of deniers passed away, another came and denied him again, So they impugned Our servant. However, this is a far-fetched reading of the verse.
Similarly far-fetched is the suggestion that the meaning of the first instance of ‘impugned’ is that they intended to deny him, while the second instance is that they did so.
In the phrase, So they impugned Our servant…, God refers to Noah as ‘Our servant’ (ʿabdanā) in order to elevate his status and venerate him, and to indicate that their denial of Noah was tantamount to denying God, because a servant has nothing of his own, rather whatever he has belongs to his master—God.
‘A crazy man, and one possessed (wa-zdujir)!’: Meaning that he was possessed by a jinn and that this was the cause of his madness. This shows that the Quraysh did not stop at merely denying him. On the contrary, they labelled him as a madman and claimed that he was being afflicted by a jinn, so that when he spoke, these were the words of a man possessed rather than a divine revelation.
Some have said that wa-zdujir here refers to his people (in which case it means ‘restrained’ and should not be read as part of his people’s speech), meaning that they tried to prevent him from conveying his message through all manner of threats and persecution. However, the first meaning seems more appropriate to the context.
فَدَعَا رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَغْلُوبٌ فَانْتَصِرْ ١٠
(54:10) Thereat he invoked his Lord, ‘I have been overcome, so help.’
When Noah invokes his Lord’s help (intiṣār), this is him calling down divine retribution on his people. He says he has been ‘overcome’ not in the sense that they have defeated his arguments, but in the sense they have forcibly suppressed him. Also, this is merely a summary of his supplication, the full form of which, along with his arguments against his people, can be found in Sūrah Hūd and elsewhere.
فَفَتَحْنَا أَبْوَابَ السَّمَاءِ بِمَاءٍ مُنْهَمِرٍ ١١
(54:11) Then We opened the gates of the sky with pouring waters (māʾ munhamir)
In Majmaʿ al-bayān, we read: ‘Hamr means to pour out tears or water forcefully, while inhimār (from which is derived munhamir) means for them to be poured out thusly.’ God opening the gates of the sky with pouring waters is a metaphor for the extreme and unceasing rainfall, as though it had been held back behind a gate and that gate had now been opened, allowing the waters to surge forth.
وَفَجَّرْنَا الْأَرْضَ عُيُونًا فَالْتَقَى الْمَاءُ عَلَىٰ أَمْرٍ قَدْ قُدِرَ ١٢
(54:12) and We made the earth burst forth (fajjarnā al–arḍ) with springs (ʿuyūn), and the water met for a preordained purpose.
According to Majmaʿ al-bayān, ‘to cause to burst forth’ (tafjīr) means to split the earth with water; ʿuyūn (sing. ʿayn) refers to water that flows from beneath the ground and gathers in pools that are round like the eye (ʿayn) of an animal.
Therefore, the meaning of the first part of the verse is: ‘We made springs erupt from the earth and cause them to flow abundantly and unceasingly.’
… and the water met for a preordained purpose: In other words, the two varieties of water—one from the heavens and one from the earth—came together for a purpose ordained by God, meaning according to His plan, neither being more nor less nor sooner nor later than He had intended.
Note that water here is singular rather than dual. This is because the term is being used as the name of a species, which encompasses both varieties of water. The preordained purpose for which these waters met was the flood which God had sent.
وَحَمَلْنَاهُ عَلَىٰ ذَاتِ أَلْوَاحٍ وَدُسُرٍ ١٣
(54:13) We bore him on a vessel made of planks and nails (dhāt alwāḥ wa dusur),
The vessel made of planks and nails, is, of course, Noah’s ark. Alwāḥ (‘planks’, sing. lawḥ) refers to the wooden strips that are held together by dusur (‘nails’, sing. disār) in order to build such a vessel. Some other meanings of these terms have been suggested, but they do not fit the context of the verse as well as these.
تَجْرِي بِأَعْيُنِنَا جَزَاءً لِمَنْ كَانَ كُفِرَ ١٤
(54:14) which sailed in Our sight, as a retribution for him who was repudiated
In other words, the ark sailed across the waters that had swallowed up the earth under all forms of divine protection, guardianship, and oversight. Some have suggested that the phrase ‘Our sight’ actually refers to ‘the sight of our allies (awliyāʾ) and the angels we had assigned to watch over it.’
… as a retribution for him who was repudiated: In other words, the sailing of the ship in this fashion, which saved all of those aboard it from destruction was meant as a retribution for those of Noah’s people who had disbelieved in him and rejected his message. Therefore, this verse is in the same vein as, We delivered him and his family from the great agony… Thus indeed do We reward the virtuous ().
وَلَقَدْ تَرَكْنَاهَا آيَةً فَهَلْ مِنْ مُدَّكِرٍ ١٥
(54:15) Certainly We have left it as a sign; so is there anyone who will be admonished?
Based on the context of the verse, the ‘it’ in We have left it as a sign refers to Noah’s ark. Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘I swear that We left that ship, through which we saved Noah and those who were with him from the flood, a sign and we made it a sign that people could reflect upon and understand that God was one, that the call of His prophets was true, and that His punishment was severe. This verse indicates that Noah’s ark must have remained until the time of its revelation as a reminder of the flood for humankind. Some have said about this verse that Noah’s ark was on Mount Jūdī and that some of the earliest members of the Muslim umma had found it. In our commentary on Sūrah Hūd, towards the end of our discussion of Noah’s story there, we transmitted a report that early Muslims had come across fragments of wood that were from Noah’s ark on Mount Jūdī near Mount Ararat. Interested readers can refer there for more details.
Some have said that the ‘it’ in We have left it actually refers to the details of the story.
فَكَيْفَ كَانَ عَذَابِي وَنُذُرِ ١٦
(54:16) So how were My punishment and My warnings?
This is a rhetorical question intended to terrify, as it conveys the severity of God’s punishment and the truthfulness of His warnings.
وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرْآنَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِنْ مُدَّكِرٍ ١٧
(54:17) Certainly We have made the Qurʾan simple (yassarnā al–Qurʾān) for the sake of remembrance. So is there anyone who will be reminded?
‘To make simple’ (taysīr) means ‘to make easy.’ In this case, God has made the Qurʾan simple in such a way that it is easy for all manner of people—of any social class, level of education, or depth of intelligence—can understand it, each according to their own level of understanding.
It could also refer to the fact that God has sent down transcendent realities from beyond the limits of human comprehension in the form of Arabic speech that is comprehensible to all. This is in the same vein as the verse, We have made it an Arabic Qurʾan so that you may apply reason, and indeed it is with Us in the Mother Book and it is surely sublime and wise ().
‘Remembrance’ (dhikr) here refers to the remembrance of God, through His divine names, attributes, or actions. Al-Rāghib says in his Mufradāt: ‘The word dhikr (‘remembrance’) is sometimes used in the sense of a faculty of the soul that allows the human being to retain knowledge and information, which is akin to memory (ḥifẓ). The difference between dhikr and ḥifẓ is that the former is used with regards to the preservation of that information, while the former is used with regards to its recall. However, dhikr can also be used to signify the presence of something in the heart or to signify an utterance. That is why it is said that “Remembrance is of two varieties, remembrance of the heart and remembrance of the tongue, and each of these is of two kinds, remembrance after forgetting (al-dhikr ʿan al-nisyān) and remembrance that is not after forgetting but due to continuous recall (idāmat al-ḥifẓ), and every utterance is a form of dhikr (‘remembrance’ or ‘mention’).’
Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘I swear that We have made the Qurʾan easy that people might remember through it, so that they might remember God and His rank. So, is there anyone who will be reminded by it, believe in God, and follow the true religion to which He summons them?’
The verse is a general call to be reminded of God by the Qurʾan, after affirming the truthfulness of the warning it contains and the severity of the punishment of which it warns.
كَذَّبَتْ عَادٌ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ عَذَابِي وَنُذُرِ ١٨
(54:18) ʿĀd impugned. So how were My punishment and My warnings?
The chapter now turns to another cautionary story of a past nation and the terrible punishment which befell them. Note that this is not joined to the previous verse by a conjunction (such as ‘and’ or ‘so’)—and neither are subsequent stories—because each and every one of these stories stands on its own and suffices as a warning for anyone who wishes to take a lesson from it.
So how were My punishment and My warnings? The tone of this question draws the attention of the audience to the terrible punishment recounted in the subsequent verse, Indeed We unleashed upon them… (). Note that, unlike the previous instance of this phrase, it is not intended to terrify them or emphasise the severity of the punishment and veracity of the warning, as it appears before mention of the punishment. This is what some scholars have said, and it is a sound interpretation.
إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِيحًا صَرْصَرًا فِي يَوْمِ نَحْسٍ مُسْتَمِرٍّ ١٩
(54:19) Indeed We unleashed upon them an icy gale (ṣarṣar) on an incessantly ill-fated day (yawm naḥs mustamirr)
According to Majmaʿ al-bayān, the word ṣarṣar denotes a wind with fierce gusts, naḥs means something ill-omened or inauspicious, and mustamirr is an adjective of naḥs, meaning that the wind was sent against the people of ʿĀd continuously on a day that was ill-fated for them and that it blew unceasingly, such that there was no hope of reprieve or salvation.
Now, the term ‘day’ here should not be taken to mean a literal day, but merely a period of time. This is illustrated by what God says elsewhere in the Qurʾan, so We unleashed upon them an icy gale during ill-fated days (), where the term ‘days’ is used instead of ‘day.’ And elsewhere, also, we read, which He disposed against them for seven gruelling nights and eight days ().
Some commentators have also understood the word naḥs as signifying ‘cold.’
تَنْزِعُ النَّاسَ كَأَنَّهُمْ أَعْجَازُ نَخْلٍ مُنْقَعِرٍ ٢٠
(54:20) knocking down people as if they were trunks of uprooted palm trees
The doer of the verb knocking down is the icy gale mentioned in the previous verse. In other words: ‘The icy gale knocked down people…’—the rest of the verse’s meaning is clear, and it conjures the image of the people of ʿĀd’s bodies being strewn about like fallen logs.
فَكَيْفَ كَانَ عَذَابِي وَنُذُرِ ٢١ وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرْآنَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِنْ مُدَّكِرٍ٢٢
(54:21–22) So how were My punishment and My warnings?! Certainly We have made the Qurʾan simple for the sake of remembrance. So is there anyone who will be reminded?
The explanation of these two verses has already been discussed previously.
Discourse
The discussions “On the Meaning of Good–fated and Ill–fated Days”; “Discourse On Heavenly Bodies”; “Discourse on Taking Omens from Worldly Events” appear here in the printed volume. Read them in the Al-Mizan App.
كَذَّبَتْ ثَمُودُ بِالنُّذُرِ ٢٣
(54:23) Thamūd denied the warnings (nudhur)
The term nudhur here is either an infinitive, in which case this verse means, ‘The people of Thamūd denied the warnings of their prophet Ṣāliḥ.’ Alternatively, it could be the plural of nadhīr (‘warner’), in which case it means: ‘The people of Thamūd denied all of the prophets’, because to deny one of the prophets is to deny all of them together and they all share one and the same message, and there is no difference between any of their teachings. This, then, is in the same vein as the verse, Thamūd impugned the messengers (). Finally, it could be the plural of nadhīr (in the sense of ‘warning’), in which case it could refer to either of the two above meanings.
فَقَالُوا أَبَشَرًا مِنَّا وَاحِدًا نَتَّبِعُهُ إِنَّا إِذًا لَفِي ضَلَالٍ وَسُعُرٍ ٢٤
(54:24) and they said, ‘Are we to follow a lone person (wāḥid) from ourselves? Indeed then we would be in error and madness (suʿur).’
This adds details to their denial.
Suʿur is the plural of saʿīr, which literally means ‘a blazing fire.’ It could be used figuratively mean ‘madness’ (junūn), which is the most appropriate meaning for this context.
Wāḥid is used here in the sense of the count of one, meaning: ‘They denied and said, “Is a man of our own species, a lone person without any numbers or followers. If we did that, we would surely be have strayed astonishingly into error and madness.’
They say this as an excuse for not following Ṣāliḥ, because—according to them—he had no numbers or power on his side, and they were used to following people of power and influence, such as kings and grandees. By contrast, Ṣāliḥ was calling on them to obey him and reject loyalty to their own grandees, as God recounts in the verse, So be wary of Allah and obey me, and do not obey the dictates of the profligate ().
On the other hand, wāḥid may mean one in the sense of ‘one of us.’ In this vase, the meaning of the verse would be: ‘Shall we follow a man who is one of us, of our species?’
The following verse expounds this further.
أَأُلْقِيَ الذِّكْرُ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ بَيْنِنَا بَلْ هُوَ كَذَّابٌ أَشِرٌ ٢٥
(54:25) ‘Has the Reminder been cast upon him from among us? Rather he is a self-conceited liar.’
This question, like the one before it, is rhetorical with the force of a denial. It means: ‘Out of all of us, has revelation been sent down to him exclusively, when he is no better than any of us? This is impossible!’ According to some commentators, the use of the phrase ‘cast upon him’ (ilqāʾ) rather than ‘sent down’ (inzāl) is to show that they believe this is something sudden and unexpected.
It seems that what they are rejecting is the idea that the Reminder has been cast upon one of their own people, a human like themselves. On the other hand, if the revelation was genuine and it was possible for it to be sent down to a human being, then all human beings would receive revelation. Therefore, why is it—so they ask—that only Ṣāliḥ received revelations from God and none of them? This is in the same vein as the verse, ‘You are just a human being like us’ ().
Rather he is a self-conceited liar: Meaning, he is extremely vain and arrogant and intends to aggrandize himself above us in this way.
سَيَعْلَمُونَ غَدًا مَنِ الْكَذَّابُ الْأَشِرُ ٢٦
(54:26) ‘Tomorrow they will know who is a self-conceited liar.’
This are the words that God spoke to Ṣāliḥ, as are the following two verses.
‘Tomorrow’ here does not signify the literal meaning of ‘the next day’, but rather the outcome of an affair, akin to the Arabic adage, ‘Today has a tomorrow.’ Hence, God is saying that when the punishment befalls them they will realize with absolute certainty who is the self-conceited liar, Ṣāliḥ or them.
إِنَّا مُرْسِلُو النَّاقَةِ فِتْنَةً لَهُمْ فَارْتَقِبْهُمْ وَاصْطَبِرْ ٢٧
(54:27) ‘We are sending the She-camel as a trial (fitna) for them; so watch them and be steadfast.’
This verse explains why the punishment prophesied in the previous verse will befall them, as in: ‘The punishment will befall them because they did such and such.’ The term fitna here is used in the sense of a test and an ordeal. Therefore, the meaning is as follows: ‘We will send—as an inimitable miracle—the she-camel which they have demanded as a test for them, so see what they do and be steadfast in the face of their persecution.
وَنَبِّئْهُمْ أَنَّ الْمَاءَ قِسْمَةٌ بَيْنَهُمْ ۖ كُلُّ شِرْبٍ مُحْتَضَرٌ ٢٨
(54:28) ‘Inform them that the water is to be dispensed between them; every drinking (shirb) will be attended.’
The first instance of the pronoun ‘them’ refers to Ṣāliḥ’s people; the second instance refers to both them and the she-camel by way of grammatical preference (taghlīb). The word shirb here denotes a share of the water. The meaning of the verse is: ‘Make them aware that, after the she-camel has been sent, the water must be shared between them and the she-camel, both they and the she-camel will have their own turn to drink the water, so each should come when its turn is due.’ As God says elsewhere, He said, ‘This is a she-camel; she shall drink and you shall drink on known days’ ().
فَنَادَوْا صَاحِبَهُمْ فَتَعَاطَىٰ فَعَقَرَ ٢٩
(54:29) But they called their companion, and he took (taʿāṭā) and hamstrung (ʿaqara).
‘Their companion’ (ṣāḥibahum) refers to the one who hamstrung the she-camel, ‘took’ means he took on the task of hamstringing her, then he hamstrung and killed her.
فَكَيْفَ كَانَ عَذَابِي وَنُذُرِ ٣٠ إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ صَيْحَةً وَاحِدَةً فَكَانُوا كَهَشِيمِ الْمُحْتَظِرِ ٣١
(54:30–31) So how were My punishment and My warnings?! We sent against them a single Cry, and they became like the dry sticks (hashīm) of a corral builder (muḥtaẓir).
A muḥtaẓir is someone who builds a pen (ḥaẓīra), which is an enclosure for the keeping of animals. The hashīm of a corral builder are the dried out branches or the like that he uses to build the pen for his animals. The rest of the meaning is clear.
وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرْآنَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِنْ مُدَّكِرٍ ٣٢
(54:32) Certainly We have made the Qurʾan simple for the sake of remembrance. So is there anyone who will be reminded?
This has already been explained previously.
كَذَّبَتْ قَوْمُ لُوطٍ بِالنُّذُرِ ٣٣
(54:33) And the people of Lot denied the warnings.
The explanation of this is the same as that given above ().
إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ حَاصِبًا إِلَّا آلَ لُوطٍ ۖ نَجَّيْنَاهُمْ بِسَحَرٍ ٣٤
(54:34) We unleashed a rain of stones (ḥāṣib) upon them, excepting the family of Lot, whom We delivered at dawn (bi saḥarin).
The ḥāṣib (‘rain of stones’) refers to a powerful wind that carries rocks and pebbles. This is the wind that rained on them stones of laminar shale ().
In Majmaʿ al-bayān, we read: ‘Saḥarin, when left indefinite, signifies “one morning at dawn.” For example, if you were to say, “I saw Zayd saḥaran”, this means that you saw him one morning. If you wished to say that you saw him this morning, you would say “I saw him bi saḥari” or “I came upon him bi saḥari” without the use of tanwīn (the -n sound at the end of an indefinite word).’
And the meaning of the verse is clear.
نِعْمَةً مِنْ عِنْدِنَا ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي مَنْ شَكَرَ ٣٥
(54:35) As a blessing from Us (niʿmatan). Thus do We reward those who give thanks.
The word niʿmatan (lit. ‘a blessing’) here is in the grammatical position of an object of purpose (mafʿūl lahu—meaning, the reason for which the action signified by the verb was performed) for the verb in the previous verse, ‘We delivered.’ In other words, ‘We delivered them so that this would be a special blessing from Us upon them because they were grateful to Us, and the recompense for gratitude is salvation.’
وَلَقَدْ أَنْذَرَهُمْ بَطْشَتَنَا فَتَمَارَوْا بِالنُّذُرِ ٣٦
(54:36) He had certainly warned them of Our violence (baṭsha), but they disputed (tamārū) the warnings.
The pronoun ‘he’ at the beginning of the verse refers to the prophet Lot, and baṭsha here signifies a severe punishment. Tamārī means to argue stubbornly and obstinately cling to doubt. Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘I swear that Lot cautioned them about our severe punishment, but they disputed his warnings and his cautions.’
وَلَقَدْ رَاوَدُوهُ عَنْ ضَيْفِهِ فَطَمَسْنَا أَعْيُنَهُمْ فَذُوقُوا عَذَابِي وَنُذُرِ ٣٧
(54:37) Certainly they even solicited (rāwadū) of him his guests, whereat We blotted out their eyes, ‘Taste My punishment and My warnings (nudhur)!’
The verb rāwadū (‘they solicited’) means they demanded that he turn over his guests to them, and these guests were, in fact, angels. ‘We blotted out their eyes’ means that God blinded them. Note that the tone shifts suddenly such that God is addressing the people of Lot directly, ‘Taste My punishment and My warnings!’ This conveys His wrath and rebuke. Note that the infinitive nudhur (‘warnings’) here refers to what they were warned of, which is the severe punishment.
The meaning of the verse is otherwise clear.
وَلَقَدْ صَبَّحَهُمْ بُكْرَةً عَذَابٌ مُسْتَقِرٌّ ٣٨
(54:38) Certainly early at dawn (bukratan) there visited them an abiding (mustaqirr) punishment
In Majmaʿ al-bayān, we read: ‘The word bukratan (‘early at dawn’) is an adverb of time. If it was definite (that is, al-bukra), it would be referring to dawn the very next day. However, here it is indefinite, which means it befell them at a future dawn. The punishment is described as mustaqirr (‘abiding’) to show that neither were they spared, nor did the punishment cease.
فَذُوقُوا عَذَابِي وَنُذُرِ ٣٩ وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرْآنَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِنْ مُدَّكِرٍ ٤٠
(54:39–40) ‘Taste My punishment and My warnings!’ Certainly We have made the Qurʾan simple for the sake of remembrance. So is there anyone who will be reminded?
These verses have already been explained, above.
وَلَقَدْ جَاءَ آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ النُّذُرُ ٤١ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا كُلِّهَا فَأَخَذْنَاهُمْ أَخْذَ عَزِيزٍ مُقْتَدِرٍ ٤٢
(54:41–42) Certainly the warnings came to Pharaoh’s clan. They denied all of Our signs. So We seized them with the seizing of One all-mighty, Omnipotent.
Note that there is no conjunction (such as ‘and’ or ‘then’) between the two verses. This is because the second verse, ‘They denied all of our signs…’ is the answer to an implicit question that is posed in response to the first verse. As if to say:
Certainly the warnings came to Pharaoh’s clan
Q: Then what did they do?
A: They denied all of Our signs
Then, as a result of their denial, We seized them with the seizing of One all-mighty, Omnipotent.
Examining Narrations
- In Rūḥ al-maʿānī, about the verse, Certainly We have made the Qurʾan simple for the sake of remembrance. So is there anyone who will be reminded? (), it is narrated from Ibn Abī Ḥātim, from Ibn ʿAbbās: ‘Were it not for the fact that God had made it easy for the tongue of the children of Adam, none of the creation would have been able to pronounce the words of God.’
- In the same source, a similar narration is narrated by al-Daylamī, via an incomplete chain of narrators (marfūʿ), from Anas. Then al-Ālūsī remarks: ‘If the report of Anas is correct, perhaps it is not an exposition of the verse.’
Author’s comments: It is not unlikely that the meaning of this tradition matches the second of the explanations we presented for this verse, above.
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, about the verse, Then We opened the gates of the sky with pouring waters (), we read: ‘Meaning that they poured forth as a torrent, without droplets.’ And We made the earth burst forth with springs and the water met ()—‘the water of the sky and the water of the earth’—for a preordained purpose. We bore him—‘Noah’—on a vessel made of planks and nails—‘The planks and nails of the boat.’
- In the same source, about the verse But they called their companion (), we read: ‘Qudār, who hamstrung the she-camel’— like the dry sticks ()—’grass and branches.’
- In al-Kāfī, al-Kulaynī narrates from Abū Yazīd from Imām al-Ṣādiq in a lengthy tradition in which he discussed the story of the people of Lot: ‘They were disdainful of him—Lot—to the point where they entered his home. Gabriel called out to him and said, ‘O Lot! Pay them no mind!’ And when they entered his home, Gabriel stretched out his fingers towards them, whereat they went blind. This is God’s saying, whereat We blotted out their eyes ().
This is a mechanism in Arabic grammar whereby one of two interrelated things is preferred over the other, for example masculine over feminine, or rational over irrational. In this case, the she-camel is included in the third-person masculine plural pronoun ‘them’ (hum), even though this is normally reserved for rational beings. (Trans.) ↩︎