Tafseer of The Dunes · Al-Ahqaf · 46:25
Destroying everything by command of its Lord. And they became so that nothing was seen [of them] except their dwellings. Thus do We recompense the criminal people.
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 statement concerning the explanation of His exalted utterance: تُدَمِّرُ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ بِأَمْرِ رَبِّهَا فَأَصْبَحُوا لا يُرَى إِلا مَسَاكِنُهُمْ كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْقَوْمَ الْمُجْرِمِينَ (46:25) ("It destroys everything by the command of its Lord, and they became such that nothing could be seen except their dwellings. Thus do We requite the criminal people.")
And His utterance ( تُدَمِّرُ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ بِأَمْرِ رَبِّهَا — "It destroys everything by the command of its Lord"): He, exalted is His mention, says: it lays everything waste, casting one thing upon another so that it brings it to ruin, as Jarīr said:
"And you were like the young camel of Thamūd, when it brayed at midday and then brought them to ruin in destruction." (4)
By his words "it brought them to ruin" he means: it cast them upon one another, struck down and perished.
By His utterance ( تُدَمِّرُ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ بِأَمْرِ رَبِّهَا — "It destroys everything by the command of its Lord") He meant only that for whose destruction it had been sent, for it did not destroy Hūd, nor those who had believed with him.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ṭalq related to us, on the authority of Zāʾida, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of al-Minhāl, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Allah sent against ʿĀd no more wind than the measure of this ring of mine — and he drew off his ring.
And His utterance ( فَأَصْبَحُوا لا يُرَى إِلا مَسَاكِنُهُمْ — "and they became such that nothing could be seen except their dwellings") means: thus did the people of Hūd become, while they were perished and extinct, so that in their land nothing more could be seen except the dwellings they used to inhabit.
The reciters differed over the recitation of His utterance ( فَأَصْبَحُوا لا يُرَى إِلا مَسَاكِنُهُمْ ). Most of the reciters of Medina and Basra recited this as ( لا تَرَى إلا مَساكِنَهُمْ ) with the tāʾ and in the accusative, with the meaning: thus did they become that you, O Muhammad, see nothing more than their dwellings. And most of the reciters of Kūfa recited this as ( لا يُرَى إِلا مَسَاكِنُهُمْ ) with the yāʾ in (يُرى) and with the nominative for "the dwellings," with the meaning I described earlier: that in their land nothing is seen except their dwellings.
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī transmitted ( لا تُرَى ) with the tāʾ. With whichever of the two recitations I have mentioned — that of the people of Medina or that of Kūfa — the reciter recites this, he is correct: that is, the recitation with the nominative for "the dwellings" when one recites His utterance (يُرى) with the yāʾ and with ḍamma, and with the accusative for "the dwellings" when one recites His utterance "ترى" with the tāʾ and with fatḥa. As for the reading transmitted from al-Ḥasan, it is ugly in Arabic, even though it is permissible. It is ugly only because the Arabs place verbs that come before "illā" in the masculine, even though the nouns that come after them are feminine names. Thus they say: "mā qāma illā ukhtuka" (none stood up except your sister) and "mā jāʾanī illā jāriyatuka" (none came to me except your slave-girl), and they hardly ever say "mā jāʾatnī illā jāriyatuka." That is because the elided word before "illā" is "aḥad" (someone) or "shayʾ" (a single thing), and "shayʾ" the Arabs express with the masculine verb, even though they mean the feminine by it. Thus they say: "in jāʾaka minhunna aḥadun fa-akrimhu" (if anyone of them comes to you, treat him honorably) and they do not say "in jāʾatka." Al-Farrāʾ permitted it [the feminine form] as a necessity [of poetic license], and he mentions that al-Mufaḍḍal recited to him:
"And our fire — no fire like it was ever seen; Maʿadd has already acknowledged that, the most noble one." (5)
Thus he made the verb of "mithl" (like, equal) feminine because it refers to "the fire" (al-nār). He said: and the best speech is that you say: "mā ruʾiya mithluhā" (no like of it has been seen).
And His utterance ( كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْقَوْمَ الْمُجْرِمِينَ — "Thus do We requite the criminal people"): He, exalted is His mention, says: just as We requited ʿĀd for their disbelief in Allah with punishment in this near worldly life, and destroyed them with Our chastisement — thus do We requite the people of Our creation who disbelieve in Allah, when they persist in their error and exalt themselves against their Lord.
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Footnotes:
(3) The verse is by al-Aʿshā ibn Qays ibn Thaʿlaba (Dīwān, Cairo edition, 57); in his transmission it has "arqubuhu" in place of "armuquhu," both of which mean "I look at him." The verse serves as a witness that the meaning of "al-ʿāriḍ" is the cloud that stretches across the sky. In (al-Lisān: ʿarḍ) it states: and "al-ʿāriḍ" is the cloud that stretches across the horizon of the sky. And in the Revelation, in the story of the people of ʿĀd, it states: "When they saw it as a cloud stretching toward their valleys, they said: This is a cloud bringing us rain" — that is: they said: this is what was promised to us, a cloud in which is the rain. End of citation. And Abū ʿUbayda said in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 222): and "al-ʿāriḍ" of the clouds is that which is seen in one of the regions of the sky in the evening, and then comes in the morning, until it has spread out and stretched evenly.
(4) The verse is not by Jarīr, as was stated in the original, but by al-Farazdaq, from a qaṣīda in his Dīwān with which he answers Jarīr back and contradicts him; it is in his Dīwān (Ṣāwī edition, 442), and the beginning of the qaṣīda is:
"Jarīr brought shameful deeds upon Kulayb, and afterward — what protection did he withhold?
And they were for them like the young camel of Thamūd, when it brayed at midday and then brought them to ruin in destruction."
That is: it brought upon his people destruction and devastation.
(5) The verse is among the evidentiary verses of al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 301); he cited it as a witness regarding His exalted utterance: "fa-aṣbaḥū lā turā illā masākinuhum." He said that it was recited with the tāʾ or with the yāʾ with ḍamma (whereby the verb is built in the passive form). He described the recitation with the tāʾ with ḍamma as ugly, and said: because the Arabs, when they place a feminine verb before "illā," put it in the masculine, and thus they said: "lam yaqum illā jāriyatuka" and "mā qāma illā jāriyatuka," and they hardly ever say "mā qāmat illā jāriyatuka." That is because the elided element (that from which the exception is made) is "aḥad" or "shayʾ," and "aḥad," whether it be for a feminine or a masculine, has a masculine verb. Do you not see that you say: "in qāma aḥadun minhunna fa-ḍribhu" (if anyone of them stands up, strike him), and you do not say "in qāmat" except under necessity, even though it is nonetheless permissible? He said: al-Mufaḍḍal recited to me: "wa-nārunā ... [the verse]." Thus he made the verb feminine, because it refers to "the fire"; and the best speech is that you say: "mā ruʾiya mithluhā." I [the annotator] say: and his word "akrama" is an adjectival qualifier of "nāran" (fire).
