Tafseer of The Smoke · Ad-Dukhaan · 44:37
Are they better or the people of Tubba' and those before them? We destroyed them, [for] indeed, they were criminals.
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 discourse on the explanation of His saying, the Exalted: Are they better, or the people of Tubbaʿ and those who were before them? We destroyed them; indeed, they were criminals (37)
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to His prophet Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: are these, these polytheists (mushrikīn), O Muḥammad, from your people better, or the people of Tubbaʿ — by which He means Tubbaʿ the Ḥimyarite?
As Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He ( Are they better, or the people of Tubbaʿ ): he said: the Ḥimyarite.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( Are they better, or the people of Tubbaʿ ): it has been transmitted to us that Tubbaʿ was a man from Ḥimyar, who marched out with the armies until he walled al-Ḥīra, then came to Samarkand and destroyed it. And it has been transmitted to us that, when he wrote, he would write in the name of Him who is mentioned and who rules over land and sea, and over beauty and wind. And it has been transmitted to us that Kaʿb used to say: he is described with the description of the righteous man; Allah censured his people, but did not censure him. And ʿĀʾisha used to say: do not curse Tubbaʿ, for he was a righteous man.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: ʿĀʾisha said: Tubbaʿ was a righteous man. And Kaʿb said: Allah censured his people, but did not censure him.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Tamīm ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, that Tubbaʿ clothed the House (the Kaʿba); and Saʿīd forbade cursing him.
And His saying ( and those who were before them ) — the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: are these polytheists of Quraysh better, or the people of Tubbaʿ and those who were before them from the communities that disbelieved in their Lord? He says: these are not better than those, that We should forgive them and not destroy them, while they are disbelievers in Allah, just as those from the communities before them whom We destroyed were disbelievers.
And His saying ( indeed, they were criminals ) says: indeed, the people of Tubbaʿ and those before them from the communities whom We destroyed — We destroyed them only because of their criminality and their disbelief in their Lord. And it has been said: ( indeed, they were criminals ); the alif of "inna" was broken (vocalized with kasra) in the manner of a sentence-beginning (ibtidāʾ), and in it lies the meaning of a condition, contenting oneself with the expression's indication of its meaning.
