Tafseer of The letter Qaaf · Qaaf · 50:13
And 'Aad and Pharaoh and the brothers of Lot
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.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Hilāl, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn ʿAbdallāh, on the authority of Qatāda, that he said: The people of al-Ayka — and "al-Ayka" are the densely intergrown trees — and the people of al-Rass were two communities; Allah sent to them a single prophet, Shuʿayb, and Allah punished both of them with two punishments. وَثَمُودُ وَعَادٌ وَفِرْعَوْنُ وَإِخْوَانُ لُوطٍ وَأَصْحَابُ الأَيْكَةِ ("And Thamūd and ʿĀd and Pharaoh and the brethren of Lot and the people of al-Ayka") — and that is the people of Shuʿayb, and their story has already passed before — وَقَوْمُ تُبَّعٍ ("and the people of Tubbaʿ").
The people of Tubbaʿ were idolaters who worshipped idols, according to what Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq.
And to his story and the story of his people belongs what Mujāhid ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn Ḥudayr informed us, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he asked ʿAbdallāh ibn Salām about Tubbaʿ: what was he? He said: Tubbaʿ was a man from the Arabs, and he gained power over the people. He chose a group of youths from among the best and took them into his confidence and his intimate circle, until he accepted [the faith] from them and swore allegiance to them. His people opposed this haughtily and said: He has abandoned your religion and sworn allegiance to the youths. When this spread abroad, he spoke with the youths, and the youths said: Between us and them let there be the fire, which burns the liar and from which the truthful one is saved. So they did. The youths hung their holy books around their necks and went out in the morning to the fire upon that. When they wished to enter it, the fire scorched their faces, and they shrank back from it. Tubbaʿ said to them: You shall surely enter it. So when they entered it, it parted away from them, until they passed straight through it. Then he said to his people: Enter it. When they wished to enter it, the fire scorched their faces, and they shrank back from it. Tubbaʿ said to them: You shall surely enter it. So when they entered it, it parted away from them, until, when they had reached the middle, it encircled them and burned them. Thereupon Tubbaʿ embraced Islam, and Tubbaʿ was a righteous man.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū Mālik ibn Thaʿlaba ibn Abī Mālik al-Quraẓī, he said: I heard Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-Quraẓī say: I heard Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAbdallāh relate, that Tubbaʿ, when he drew near to Yemen in order to enter it, was held back by the Ḥimyar; they said: Do not enter it against us, for you have abandoned our religion. He called them to his religion and said: It is a religion that is better than your religion. They said: Then let us submit a dispute to the fire. He said: Very well. Now there was in Yemen, as the people of Yemen claim, a fire that judged between them in the matters over which they disagreed; it consumed the wrongdoer and did not harm the one wronged. When they said that to Tubbaʿ, he said: You have been just. Thereupon his people went out with their idols and with that by which they sought to gain nearness in their religion; and the two scribes went out with their holy books hung around their necks, adorned with them, until they sat down by the fire, at the place from which it came forth. The fire came forth toward them, and when it advanced upon them, the idolaters shrank away from it and feared it, and the people who were present cast [exhortations] toward them and commanded them to stand firm. But the idolaters did not hold their ground, until the fire covered them and consumed the idols and what they had offered with them as sacrifices, and whoever of the men of Ḥimyar had carried that. And the two scribes went out with their holy books around their necks; their foreheads sweated, but it did not harm them. Thereupon Ḥimyar united upon his religion, and from that point and through other matters this was the origin of Judaism in Yemen.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of some of his companions, that the two scribes, and whoever went out with them from Ḥimyar, followed the fire only to drive it back, and they said: Whoever drives it back, he has the most right to the truth. Men of Ḥimyar approached it with their idols to drive it back, but it approached them to consume them, and they shrank away and were not able to drive it back. Then the two scribes approached it and began to recite the Torah, whereupon it drew back until they drove it back to the place from which it had come forth. Thereupon the people united upon their religion. Riʾām was a temple that they had before them, which they venerated, at which they slaughtered sacrifices, and from which speech was made to them, so long as they were in their shirk (the ascribing of partners to Allah). The two scribes said to Tubbaʿ: It is only a devil that helps them and plays with them; so leave us and him alone. He said: Do with him what you wish. Thereupon they brought out from it — as the people of Yemen claim — a black dog, which they slaughtered; then they pulled down that temple. Its remains are in Yemen to this day, as I have been told.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Lahīʿa said, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Jābir al-Ḥaḍramī, who related it to him, he said: I heard Sahl ibn Saʿd al-Sāʿidī relate on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, that he said: "Do not curse Tubbaʿ, for he had embraced Islam."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Lahīʿa informed me, on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn Yazīd, that Shuʿayb ibn Zurʿa al-Maʿāfirī related it to him, he said: I heard ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and a man said to him: Ḥimyar claims that Tubbaʿ belongs to them. He said: Yes, by Him in Whose hand is my soul; and he is among the Arabs as the nose between the two eyes. And among them were seventy kings.
Footnotes: (6) Thus in the original; and hereafter there will soon come a similar case in which "fī" has dropped out of the sentence. Perhaps he added "fī" by way of paraphrase.
