Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:62
They said, "O Salih, you were among us a man of promise before this. Do you forbid us to worship what our fathers worshipped? And indeed we are, about that to which you invite us, in disquieting doubt."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: قَالُوا يَا صَالِحُ قَدْ كُنْتَ فِينَا مَرْجُوًّا قَبْلَ هَذَا أَتَنْهَانَا أَنْ نَعْبُدَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا وَإِنَّنَا لَفِي شَكٍّ مِمَّا تَدْعُونَا إِلَيْهِ مُرِيبٍ (62) (They said: O Ṣāliḥ, before this you were one among us in whom great expectations were placed. Do you now forbid us to worship what our forefathers worshipped? Indeed, we are in disquieting doubt about that to which you call us.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says here: Thamūd said to their prophet Ṣāliḥ: يَا صَالِحُ قَدْ كُنْتَ فِينَا مَرْجُوًّا — that is to say: we hoped that you would become a master among us, before you spoke to us these words, namely that we have no god but Allah. أَتَنْهَانَا أَنْ نَعْبُدَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا — that is to say: do you forbid us to worship the gods that our forefathers worshipped? وَإِنَّنَا لَفِي شَكٍّ مِمَّا تَدْعُونَا إِلَيْهِ مُرِيبٍ — by this they meant that they did not know the soundness of that to which he was calling them: the affirmation of the oneness of Allah and the fact that divinity belongs exclusively to Him.
مُرِيبٍ — that is to say: that which provokes suspicion, from "arābahu fa-anā urībuh irābatan" (I did to him something that gave him cause for suspicion), when one acts toward someone in such a way that it gives him cause for suspicion. Of this is also the verse of the Hudhalī poet:
"Kuntu idhā atawtuhu min ghaybi yashammu ʿiṭfī wa-yabuzzu thawbī ka-annamā arabtuh bi-raybi"
(When I approached him from a direction that he did not see, he would smell me and tug at my garment, as if I had given him cause for suspicion.)