Tafseer of The Star · An-Najm · 53:50
And that He destroyed the first [people of] 'Aad
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.
And His statement wa-annahu ahlaka ʿādan il-ūlā ("and that He destroyed the first ʿĀd") — the Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, means by "the first ʿĀd": ʿĀd ibn Iram ibn ʿAwṣ ibn Sām ibn Nūḥ; and they are those whom Allah destroyed with an icy, raging wind. And to them He referred with His statement Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with ʿĀd * with Iram.
The Qurʾān-reciters differed over the reading of it. Most of the reciters of Medina and some of the reciters of Basra read it as "ʿādan luulā," without the hamza and with sukūn on the nūn, so that the lām in al-ūlā became as though it were a doubled lām. The Arabs do that in something of this kind; it has been transmitted from them by hearing: "qum lāna ʿannā," by which they mean "qum al-āna" ("rise now"); they placed a sukūn on the mīm because the lām that is with the alif of al-āna was set in motion. And likewise you also say: "ṣum ithnayn," by which they mean "ṣum al-ithnayn" ("fast on Monday"). As for most of the reciters of Kufa and some of the Meccans: they read it with the clear pronunciation of the nūn and with a kasra upon it, and with the hamza in al-ūlā, with disagreement about that from al-Aʿmash. His companions other than al-Qāsim ibn Maʿn transmitted from him that he agreed in this with the people of his region. As for al-Qāsim ibn Maʿn: it has been transmitted from him, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, that in his reading of it he agreed with the reciters of Medina.
And the correct reading of it, according to us, is what we have mentioned of the reading of the Kufans, because that is the eloquent form of the language of the Arabs; and because the reading of the one who belongs to the people of natural linguistic disposition (ahl al-salīqa) is based on clear pronunciation and emphasis; and because the assimilation (idghām) in such a word and the omission of clear pronunciation finds room only with the one for whom that is his nature and disposition, namely the people of the desert. As for the muwalladūn (the generations born in the cities): their rule is that they pursue the most eloquent, the most euphonious, and the most reliable of the readings, even though the other is permissible and not rejected.
And ʿĀd ibn Iram was called "the first ʿĀd," because the tribe of Luqaym ibn Hazzāl ibn Huzayl ibn ʿAbīl ibn Ḍidd ibn ʿĀd al-Akbar, in the days when Allah sent His punishment upon ʿĀd al-Akbar, were inhabitants of Mecca together with their brethren of the ʿAmāliqa, the descendants of ʿImlīq ibn Lāwidh ibn Sām ibn Nūḥ. They were not with their people of ʿĀd in their land, so that there did not befall them of the punishment what befell their people; and they are the later ʿĀd. Then they too perished later on.
And the destruction of the later ʿĀd was through the wrongdoing of some of them against others, so that they exterminated one another by killing — according to what Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, according to what we have mentioned. ʿĀd al-Akbar, whose descendants Allah destroyed with the wind, was called "the first ʿĀd," because it was destroyed before the later ʿĀd. And Ibn Zayd said: they were called "the first ʿĀd" only because they were the first of the nations to perish.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement ahlaka ʿādan il-ūlā; he said: it is said: they belong to the first of the nations.
