Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:50
And they planned a plan, and We planned a plan, while they perceived not.
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.
Allah, exalted is His remembrance, says: these nine persons who spread corruption on earth committed treachery against Ṣāliḥ by going to him by night in order to kill him and his family, while Ṣāliḥ was unaware of that. وَمَكَرْنَا مَكْرًا ('and We devised a plan'): He says: We seized them with Our punishment of them and Our hastening of the chastisement upon them وَهُمْ لا يَشْعُرُونَ ('while they did not perceive') — Our plan.
We have previously explained the meaning of Allah's devising against whoever devises a plot against Him, and how that is in its nature: namely, that He seizes the one whom He seizes suddenly in his heedlessness, or that He gradually leads the one whom He leads on in his disbelief in Him and his disobedience to Him, in order then to strike him with the chastisement in heedlessness and inattention.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke.
*Mention of those who said that:*
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Shimr ibn ʿAṭiyya, on the authority of a man, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said: devising (makr) is treachery, and treachery is disbelief.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word وَمَكَرُوا مَكْرًا وَمَكَرْنَا مَكْرًا: he said: they devised their plan, and Allah devised a plan against them. They devised a plot against Ṣāliḥ, and We devised a plot against them وَهُمْ لا يَشْعُرُونَ: of Our plan, while We knew of their plan. They said: Ṣāliḥ claims that he will be done with us within three days — we shall be done with him and his family before that time. He had a place of prayer in al-Ḥijr in a mountain pass where he used to pray. They set out to a cave and said: when he comes to pray, we shall kill him; if we are done with him we shall return, and if we are done with them, we shall come back. And he recited the word of Allah, the Blessed and Exalted: قَالُوا تَقَاسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ لَنُبَيِّتَنَّهُ وَأَهْلَهُ ثُمَّ لَنَقُولَنَّ لِوَلِيِّهِ مَا شَهِدْنَا مَهْلِكَ أَهْلِهِ وَإِنَّا لَصَادِقُونَ. Allah sent a boulder from the mountain ridge straight at them, whereupon they feared that it would crush them and they hurried into the cave; the boulder sealed off the opening of that cave. Their people did not know where they were, and they did not know what had been done to their people. Thus Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, punished these here and those there, and Allah saved Ṣāliḥ and those who were with him.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: وَمَكَرُوا مَكْرًا وَمَكَرْنَا مَكْرًا: he said: Allah sent a boulder upon them that killed them.
