Tafseer of The Star · An-Najm · 53:51
And Thamud - and He did not spare [them] -
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 وَثَمُودَ فَمَا أَبْقَى ("and the Thamūd, and He left nothing remaining"). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Allah did not allow the Thamūd to remain in existence, so that He would let them persist in their transgression and their rebellion against their Lord; rather, He punished them for their unbelief and their arrogance, and He destroyed them.
The reciters differed over the reading of this. Most of the reciters of Basra and some of those of Kūfa read it وَثَمُودَ فَمَا أَبْقَى ("and the Thamūd, and He left nothing remaining") with inflection (ijrāʾ, that is, with nunation and case-flexion), in accordance with the [written] muṣḥaf, since the alif is established therein. And some of the reciters of Kūfa read it without inflection. It has been reported that in the muṣḥaf of ʿAbdallāh [ibn Masʿūd] it is without an alif.
The correct judgment concerning this is that they are two well-known readings; whichever of the two the reciter recites by, he has hit the mark, on account of the correctness of both of them with respect to grammatical inflection (iʿrāb) and meaning. We have already, earlier, set forth the account of the Thamūd and the cause of their destruction, in a manner that absolves us from repeating it.
