Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:69
Then do you wonder that there has come to you a reminder from your Lord through a man from among you, that he may warn you? And remember when He made you successors after the people of Noah and increased you in stature extensively. So remember the favors of Allah that you might succeed.
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.
"Or are you amazed that an admonition from your Lord has come to you through a man from among yourselves, to warn you" — He says: Or are you amazed that Allah has sent down His revelation, with your admonition and a warning to you against the misguidance in which you persist, through a man from among yourselves, to warn you of the might (baʾs) of Allah and to make you fear His punishment (2) — "And remember when He made you successors (khulafāʾ) after the people of Nūḥ" — He says: So fear Allah concerning yourselves, and remember what befell the people of Nūḥ of punishment when they disobeyed their messenger and disbelieved in their Lord; for your Lord made you only successors to them on the earth, when He destroyed them and set you in their place therein (3); so fear Allah, lest there befall you what befell them of punishment, so that He destroys you and sets others in your place — that is His fixed way (sunna) with the people of Nūḥ before you — because of your disobedience to Him and your disbelief in Him. "And He increased you in bodily build with extension" — He increased your bodies in length and size above the bodies of the people of Nūḥ (4), and your strength above their strength (5), as a favor from Him to you thereby. So remember His favors and His excellence by which He has favored you above them in your bodies and your strength (6), and be grateful to Allah for that by devoting worship purely to Him, and abandoning the assigning of partners to Him (shirk), and forsaking the idols and likenesses. "That you may be successful" — He says: that you may be successful and thereby attain eternity and abiding in bliss in the Hereafter, and succeed in your desires with Him. (7)
* * *
And in agreement with what we have said concerning the exegesis of His word "And remember when He made you successors after the people of Nūḥ," the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
14795 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And remember when He made you successors after the people of Nūḥ" — He says: He caused the people of Nūḥ to pass away and set you as successors after them.
14796 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "And remember when He made you successors after the people of Nūḥ" — that is to say: inhabitants of the earth after the people of Nūḥ.
* * *
And in agreement with what we have likewise said, they spoke concerning the exegesis of His word "extension" (basṭa).
* Mention of who said that:
14797 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And He increased you in bodily build with extension" — he said: something like the strength of the people of ʿĀd. (8)
* * *
As for "al-ālāʾ," it is a plural, whose singular is: "ilā" with a kasra on the alif, on the pattern of "miʿā," and one also says "alā" on the pattern of "qafā" with a fatḥa on the alif. And it has been transmitted by way of oral report from the Arabs: "ily" like "ḥisy." And "al-ālāʾ" are the blessings.
* * *
And so said the exegetes.
* Mention of who said that:
14798 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his word: "So remember the blessings of Allah" — that is to say: the favors of Allah.
14799 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: as for "the blessings of Allah," they are the favors of Allah.
14800 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning his word: "So remember the blessings of Allah," he said: His blessings, they are His favors.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And "ʿĀd," they are these people whose qualities Allah has described, and to whom He sent Hūd, who called them to the oneness of Allah and to following that with which he came to them from Him; they are, according to that which:
14801 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: the descendants of ʿĀd ibn Iram ibn ʿAwṣ ibn Sām ibn Nūḥ.
* * *
And their dwelling places were al-Shiḥr, in the land of Yemen, and what adjoins the land of Ḥaḍramawt up to ʿUmān, as:
14802 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: that ʿĀd were a people who dwelt in Yemen, in al-Aḥqāf.
14803 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Khuzāʿī, on the authority of Abū al-Ṭufayl ʿĀmir ibn Wāthila, who said: I heard ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, peace be upon him, say to a man from Ḥaḍramawt: Have you seen a red sand-hill, mingled with red clay-soil, with many arāk and sidr trees, in a certain region of the land of Ḥaḍramawt — have you seen it? He said: Yes, O Commander of the Believers! By Allah, you describe it like one who has seen it! He said: No, but it was related to me about it. The man from Ḥaḍramawt said: And what is the matter with that place, O Commander of the Believers? He said: Therein is the grave of Hūd, the blessings of Allah be upon him. (11)
14804 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: The abodes of ʿĀd and their community, when Allah sent Hūd among them, were al-Aḥqāf. He said: and "al-Aḥqāf" is the sand, lying between ʿUmān and Ḥaḍramawt — that is, all of Yemen. (12) And they had thereby spread across the whole earth and overwhelmed its inhabitants by virtue of the abundance of strength which Allah had granted them. And they were, moreover, worshippers of idols which they worshipped instead of Allah: an idol called "Ṣudāʾ," an idol called "Ṣamūd," and an idol called "al-Habāʾ." Allah then sent Hūd to them, and he was the most eminent among them in lineage and the foremost among them in standing. He commanded them to acknowledge Allah as one alone and to set up no other god beside Him, and to refrain from wronging the people. And he commanded them, according to what is related — and Allah knows best — nothing other than that. But they refused to obey him and denied him, and said: مَنْ أَشَدُّ مِنَّا قُوَّةً (Who is stronger than us in might?). And a number of people from among them followed him, and they were few, who kept their faith hidden. (13) And among those who believed in him and held him to be truthful was a man from ʿĀd, called "Marthad ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUfayr," who kept his faith hidden. When they set themselves against Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, and denied their prophet and worked much corruption on the earth and behaved arrogantly and erected upon every height a structure — out of frivolity, without benefit — Hūd addressed them and said: أَتَبْنُونَ بِكُلِّ رِيعٍ آيَةً تَعْبَثُونَ * وَتَتَّخِذُونَ مَصَانِعَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَخْلُدُونَ * وَإِذَا بَطَشْتُمْ بَطَشْتُمْ جَبَّارِينَ * فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ (Do you build on every height a monument, to amuse yourselves? And take for yourselves strongholds as though you would live forever? And when you strike, you strike as tyrants. So fear Allah and obey me) [Surah al-Shuʿarāʾ: 128-131]. قَالُوا يَا هُودُ مَا جِئْتَنَا بِبَيِّنَةٍ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِتَارِكِي آلِهَتِنَا عَنْ قَوْلِكَ وَمَا نَحْنُ لَكَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ * إِنْ نَقُولُ إِلا اعْتَرَاكَ بَعْضُ آلِهَتِنَا بِسُوءٍ (They said: O Hūd, you have not come to us with a clear proof, and we will not abandon our gods on your word, and we do not believe you. We say only: some of our gods have afflicted you with evil) — that is to say: this with which you have come to us is nothing but madness with which some of these our gods, whom you slander, have afflicted you. قَالَ إِنِّي أُشْهِدُ اللَّهَ وَاشْهَدُوا أَنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِمَّا تُشْرِكُونَ * مِنْ دُونِهِ فَكِيدُونِي جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ لا تُنْظِرُونِي (He said: I call Allah to witness, and you also bear witness that I am free of that which you associate as partners besides Him; so plot against me, all of you together, and grant me no respite) up to His word: صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ (a straight path) [Surah Hūd: 53-56]. When they did that, Allah withheld the rain from them for three years — as they claim — until that bore heavily upon them. And the people in that time were such that when an affliction or hardship befell them and they sought from Allah relief therefrom, their petition to Allah took place at His sacred House at Mecca — both the Muslims among them and the polytheists (mushrikūn). Thus there gathered at Mecca numerous and diverse people, of varying religions, and they all venerated Mecca and acknowledged its sanctity and its place with Allah.
= Ibn Isḥāq said: And the House was at that time known of place (14), and the sanctuary (al-ḥaram) stood there, according to what they mention, and the inhabitants of Mecca in those days were the ʿAmāliqa = and they were called only "the ʿAmāliqa" because their forefather was: "ʿImlīq ibn Lāwidh ibn Sām ibn Nūḥ" = and the lord of the ʿAmāliqa at that time at Mecca was, as they claim, a man called Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr; and his father was still alive at that time, but he had grown old, and his son led his people. And the leadership and the honor among the ʿAmāliqa lay, as they claim, with the inhabitants of that House. And the mother of Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr was Kalhada, daughter of al-Khaybarī, a man from ʿĀd. When the rain was withheld from ʿĀd and they fell into distress (15), they said: Send forth from among you a delegation to Mecca, that they may ask for rain on your behalf, for you have perished! So they sent Qayl ibn ʿAnz (16) and Luqaym ibn Hazzāl ibn Huzayl (17), and ʿAtīl ibn Ṣadd ibn ʿĀd the Elder (18), and Marthad ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUfayr — who was a Muslim who kept his islam hidden — and Julhuma ibn al-Khaybarī, the maternal uncle of Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr, the brother of his mother. Then they sent Luqmān ibn ʿĀd ibn so-and-so ibn so-and-so ibn Ṣadd ibn ʿĀd the Elder. Each man of these people departed, with him a group from his people, until the number of their delegation reached seventy men. When they reached Mecca, they took up lodging with Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr, and he dwelt at the edge of Mecca, outside the sanctuary; he gave them shelter and honored them, and they were his maternal uncles and his kinsmen. (19)
= When the delegation of ʿĀd had alighted with Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr, they stayed a month with him, drinking wine, while the two Jarādas sang to them — two singing slave-girls (qaynatān) of Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr. Their journey had taken a month and their stay a month. When Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr saw the length of their stay — while their people had sent them to seek refuge with them from the affliction that had befallen them (20) — that bore heavily upon him, and he said: My maternal uncles and kinsmen have perished! And these are staying with me, and they are my guests who have taken up lodging with me! By Allah, I do not know how to deal with them! I am ashamed to command them to depart to that for which they were sent (21), lest they should suppose that it is out of discomfort on my part at their staying with me, while their people who remain behind them have perished from hardship and thirst!! — or words to that effect. He complained of this matter to his two singing slave-girls, the two Jarādas, and they said: Compose a poem with which we may sing to them, without their knowing who composed it; perhaps that will stir them! Then Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr spoke, when they had advised him of that:
O Qayl, woe to you! Arise and pray in secret, that perhaps Allah may grant us rain-clouds. (22) That He may water the land of ʿĀd; for indeed ʿĀd have now become such that they can no longer understand speech, from severe thirst, so that through them we have no hope in the aged greybeard, nor in the youth. And their women were formerly in prosperity, but now their women have become longing and needy. (23) And indeed the wild game comes openly to them and fears not the arrows of an ʿĀdite. And you are here in that which you desire, all your day and all your night. Cursed then be your delegation as a delegation of a people, and may they receive no greeting and no wish of peace.
When Muʿāwiya had spoken that poem, the two Jarādas sang it to them. When the people heard that with which the two sang, they said to one another: O people, your people sent you only to seek refuge through you from this affliction that has befallen them (24), and you have failed them! Enter then this sanctuary and ask for rain for your people! Marthad ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUfayr then said to them: By Allah, you will obtain no rain by your supplication, but if you obey your prophet and return to him, you will obtain rain! Thereupon he then made his islam public. Julhuma ibn al-Khaybarī, the maternal uncle of Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr, then said to him, when he heard his words and understood that he had followed the religion of Hūd and believed in him:
O Abū Saʿd, indeed you belong to a tribe of nobility, and your mother is from Thamūd. (25) We, however, will never obey you as long as we live, and we will not do what you desire. (26) Do you command us to abandon the religion of Rifd, and of Raml and the family of Ṣadd and al-ʿUbūd, (27) and to abandon the religion of noble forefathers, men of discernment, to follow the religion of Hūd?
Then they said to Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr and his father Bakr: Keep Marthad ibn Saʿd away from us, and let him not come with us to Mecca, for he has followed the religion of Hūd and abandoned our religion! Thereupon they set out to Mecca to ask for rain there for ʿĀd. When they turned toward Mecca, Marthad ibn Saʿd departed from the dwelling of Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr and overtook them there, before they had asked Allah for anything for which they had set out. (28) When he had reached them, he stood and prayed to Allah at Mecca, while the delegation of ʿĀd had gathered there and were supplicating, saying: "O Allah, grant me my request alone, and do not involve me in anything with which the delegation of ʿĀd invoke You!" And Qayl ibn ʿAnz was the head of the delegation of ʿĀd. And the delegation of ʿĀd said: "O Allah, grant Qayl what he asks of You, and place our request with his request!" And Luqmān ibn ʿĀd had, when he supplicated, set himself apart from the delegation of ʿĀd, and he was the lord of ʿĀd. When they had finished their supplication, he stood and said: "O Allah, indeed, I have come to You alone with my need, so grant me my request!" And Qayl ibn ʿAnz said when he supplicated: "O our God, if Hūd is truthful, then grant us rain, for we have indeed perished!" Thereupon Allah caused to rise for them three clouds: a white one, a red one, and a black one. Then a caller called out to him from the cloud: "O Qayl, choose for yourself and for your people from these clouds." He said: "I choose the black cloud, for it is the most laden with water of the clouds!" Then a caller called out to him: "You have chosen burning ash, finely pulverized ash (29), which will leave none of the family of ʿĀd (30); no father will it spare and no child, but it will make him a lifeless corpse (31), except the Banū al-Lūdhiyya, the guided ones" = and the "Banū al-Lūdhiyya" are the sons of Luqaym ibn Hazzāl ibn Huzayla ibn Bakr (32), and they were inhabitants of Mecca with their maternal uncles, and they were not with ʿĀd in their land; they are the later ʿĀd, and those who remained of ʿĀd from their progeny.
= And Allah drove the black cloud — as they mention — which Qayl ibn ʿAnz had chosen, with the vengeance it bore within it, toward ʿĀd, until it broke over them from a valley called "al-Mughīth." When they saw it, they rejoiced at it and said: هَذَا عَارِضٌ مُمْطِرُنَا (This is a cloud bringing us rain). Allah says: بَلْ هُوَ مَا اسْتَعْجَلْتُمْ بِهِ رِيحٌ فِيهَا عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ * تُدَمِّرُ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ بِأَمْرِ رَبِّهَا (Nay, it is that whose hastening you sought: a wind in which is a painful punishment, destroying everything by the command of its Lord) [Surah al-Aḥqāf: 24-25] — that is to say: everything it was commanded. And the first to see what it bore within it and to understand that it was a wind was — as they mention — a woman from ʿĀd called "Mahdad." When she became certain of what it bore within it, she screamed (33) and thereafter fell down unconscious. When she came to again, they said: What did you see, O Mahdad? She said: I saw a wind in which was something like fire-sparks, with before it men who led it! Then Allah loosed it upon them for seven nights and eight days, uninterruptedly (ḥusūm), as Allah has said (34) = and "al-ḥusūm" means: continuous = and it left none of ʿĀd but he perished. Hūd, however, as has been related to me, and those who were with him among the believers, secluded himself in an enclosure, and of the wind there reached him and those with him only that which softens the skin and pleases the souls (35); while it continued over ʿĀd with the assault between heaven and earth, crushing them with stones. And the delegation of ʿĀd left Mecca, until they passed by Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr and his father (36) and took up lodging with him. While they were with him, suddenly there approached a man upon his she-camel, on a moonlit night, on the evening of the third day after the catastrophe of ʿĀd (37), and he conveyed to them the news. They said to him: Where did you leave Hūd and his companions? He said: I left them by the shore of the sea. It was as though they doubted what he had told them, and Huzayla bint Bakr said (38): He has spoken the truth, by the Lord of the Kaʿba! (39)
14805 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us, saying: ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān al-Bakrī, who said: I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and I had passed by a woman at al-Rabadha (40), and she said: Will you take me to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? I said: Yes! So I took her along, until I reached Medina, and I entered the mosque, and there was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ upon the pulpit, and there was Bilāl girt with the sword, and there were black banners. I said: What is this? They said: ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ has returned from his expedition. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ descended from his pulpit, I came to him and asked permission, and he granted it to me, and I said: O Messenger of Allah, indeed, at the door stands a woman from the Banū Tamīm, and she has asked me to bring her to you. He said: O Bilāl, grant her permission. He said: She entered, and when she was seated, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me: Is there anything between you and Tamīm? I said: Yes! And the defeat had fallen upon them (41) — if you would make the Dahnāʾ a separation between us and them, then I would do it! He said: The woman said: And toward where do you then drive your Muḍar, O Messenger of Allah? (42) He said: I said: My likeness is as the likeness of a goat that carried its own destruction! (43) I said: And I have carried you while you would become my adversary! I seek refuge with Allah that I should be like the delegation of ʿĀd! Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: And what is the delegation of ʿĀd? I said: You have struck upon the expert! Indeed, ʿĀd were stricken by drought and sent someone to ask for rain on their behalf; so they sent men, and they passed by Bakr ibn Muʿāwiya, and he gave them wine to drink and the two Jarādas sang to them for a month, then he sent forth from his surroundings a man, until he reached the mountains of Mahra (44), and they supplicated, and clouds came. He said: And whenever a cloud came, he said: Go to such-and-such, until a cloud came, and from it was called (45): "Take it as burning ash, finely pulverized ash * which will leave none of ʿĀd." He said: He heard that and concealed it from them, until the punishment came to them. (46) = Abū Kurayb said: Abū Bakr said thereafter in the story of ʿĀd, he said: The man who had come to them set out and reached the mountains of Mahra (47), and he climbed them and said: O Allah, indeed, I have not come to You for a captive to ransom him, nor for a sick man to heal him, so give ʿĀd to drink as You used to give them to drink! He said: Then clouds rose up for him. He said: And from it was called: Choose! He said: Then he began to say: Go to the Banū so-and-so, go to the Banū so-and-so. He said: Then a black cloud passed by last, and he said: Go to ʿĀd! Then from it was called: "Take it as burning ash, finely pulverized ash, which will leave none of ʿĀd." He said: And he concealed it from them (48), while the people were with Bakr ibn Muʿāwiya, drinking. He said: And Bakr ibn Muʿāwiya found it difficult to tell them, because they were with him and in his hospitality. He said: Then he began to sing and admonished them. (49)
14806 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb related to us, saying: Sallām Abū al-Mundhir al-Naḥwī related to us, saying: ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn Yazīd al-Bakrī, who said: I set out to complain about al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Ḥaḍramī to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and I passed by al-Rabadha, and there was an old woman, stranded (50), from the Banū Tamīm, and she said: O servant of Allah, indeed, I have a need with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, will you bring me to him? He said: So I took her along, and I reached Medina. He said: And there were banners (51); I said: What is the matter with the people? They said: He wishes to send ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ on a mission. (52) He said: Then I sat down until he was finished. He said: Then he entered his house — or he said: his dwelling — and I asked permission of him, and he granted me permission, and I entered and sat down, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me: Has there been anything between you and Tamīm? I said: Yes! And we had the victory over them (53), and I passed by al-Rabadha, and there was an old woman of theirs, stranded, and she asked me to bring her to you, and there she is at the door. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ granted her permission, and she entered, and I said: O Messenger of Allah, make the Dahnāʾ a separation between us and Tamīm. Then the old woman flared up in anger and drew herself up (54), and she said: And toward where do you then drive your Muḍar, O Messenger of Allah? (55) He said: I said: I am as the first one said: "A goat that carried its own destruction!" (56) I have carried this one, not realizing that she would be my adversary! I seek refuge with Allah and His Messenger that I should be like the delegation of ʿĀd! He said: And what is the delegation of ʿĀd? I said: You have struck upon the expert! — He said: and he drew the story out of me. (58) — I said: Indeed, ʿĀd were stricken by drought, and they sent "Qayl" as an envoy, and he took up lodging with Bakr, and the latter gave him wine to drink for a month, while two slave-girls who were called "the two Jarādas" sang to him (59), and he set out to the mountains of Mahra and called: "Indeed, I have not come for a sick man to heal him, nor for a captive to ransom him; O Allah, so give ʿĀd to drink as You used to give them to drink!" (60) Then black clouds passed by him, and from it was called (61): "Take it as burning ash, finely pulverized ash, which will leave none of ʿĀd." He said: The woman kept saying: "Be not like the delegation of ʿĀd!" And it has been related to me that of the wind which was sent upon them, O Messenger of Allah, only as much was loosed as runs through my signet-ring (62). = Abū Wāʾil said: thus it was related to me. (63)
14807 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: وَإِلَى عَادٍ أَخَاهُمْ هُودًا قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرُهُ (And to ʿĀd their brother Hūd; he said: O my people, worship Allah; you have no god other than Him) — that Hūd came to ʿĀd and admonished them and reminded them of what Allah has recounted in the Qurʾān, but they denied him and disbelieved, and asked him to bring them the punishment. Then he said to them: إِنَّمَا الْعِلْمُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَأُبَلِّغُكُمْ مَا أُرْسِلْتُ بِهِ (Indeed, the knowledge is only with Allah, and I convey to you that with which I was sent) [Surah al-Aḥqāf: 23]. And indeed ʿĀd, when they disbelieved, were stricken by the withholding of rain (64), until they were thereby in severe distress. That is because Hūd had prayed against them, and Allah sent upon them the barren wind (al-rīḥ al-ʿaqīm) — that is the wind which does not pollinate the trees. When they saw it, they said: هَذَا عَارِضٌ مُمْطِرُنَا (This is a cloud bringing us rain) [Surah al-Aḥqāf: 24]. When it drew near them, they saw the camels and the men flying about through the wind between heaven and earth. When they saw it, they hastened to the houses (65); but when they entered the houses, it entered upon them and destroyed them therein, and thereafter it drove them out of the houses, and it struck them فِي يَوْمِ نَحْسٍ (on a day of misfortune) = and "al-naḥs" is misfortune = and مُسْتَمِرٍّ (continuous), it persisted over them with the punishment سَبْعَ لَيَالٍ وَثَمَانِيَةَ أَيَّامٍ حُسُومًا (seven nights and eight days uninterruptedly) (66) = it destroyed everything it passed by (67), and when it had driven them out of the houses, Allah said: تَنْزِعُ النَّاسَ (it plucks out the people) — from the houses — كَأَنَّهُمْ أَعْجَازُ نَخْلٍ مُنْقَعِرٍ (as though they were uprooted palm-trunks) [Surah al-Qamar: 20] = uprooted from their roots = "khāwiya" (empty), they had become empty and fallen over. (68) When Allah had destroyed them, He sent over them black birds (69), which carried them off to the sea and cast them into it, and that is His word: فَأَصْبَحُوا لا يُرَى إِلا مَسَاكِنُهُمْ (So they became such that nothing was to be seen but their dwellings) [Surah al-Aḥqāf: 25]. And never did a wind go forth except by a measured amount, except on that day, for it overcame the keepers and overpowered them, so that they did not know how great its measure was, and that is His word: فَأُهْلِكُوا بِرِيحٍ صَرْصَرٍ عَاتِيَةٍ (So they were destroyed by a howling, violent wind) [Surah al-Ḥāqqa: 6] = and "al-ṣarṣar" is that with the intense sound.
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The footnotes:
(2) See the exegesis of the meaning-related verse in what has just passed: p. 501.
(3) See the exegesis of "khalīfa" (successor) in what has passed earlier 1: 449 / 12: 288.
(4) See the exegesis of "al-basṭa" (the extension) in what has passed earlier 5: 313.
(5) In the printed edition it read "and in your stature above their stature," which is an error; the correct reading is what is in the manuscript.
(6) In the printed edition likewise "and your stature"; the correct reading is from the manuscript.
(7) See the exegesis of "al-falāḥ" (success) in what has passed earlier, p. 312, note 1, and the references there.
(8) In the printed edition it read "like the stature of the people of ʿĀd"; the correct reading is what is in the manuscript.
(9) "al-madara" is the sticky clay in which there is no sand.
(10) "al-arāk" and "al-sidr" are two species of plants.
(11) The narration 14803 — "Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Khuzāʿī," al-Bukhārī devoted a biographical entry to him in al-Kabīr 1/1/135 and cited the report, similar and at length, without mentioning therein any disparagement (jarḥ). And Ibn Abī Ḥātim 3/2/297. "Abū al-Ṭufayl," "ʿĀmir ibn Wāthila al-Kinānī," saw the Prophet ﷺ when he was a youth; his seeing of the Messenger of Allah is established, but his hearing from him is not established. It is said: he was the last of the Companions to die, in the year one hundred, or thereafter.
(12) In the printed edition it read "in Yemen," and "all of" was omitted; what is included is what is in the manuscript.
(13) In the printed edition it read "who kept their faith hidden"; what is included is what is in the manuscript.
(14) In the manuscript it read "And the House was at a time known of place," which is not coherent, and what is in the printed edition fits the context better.
(15) "qaḥaṭa al-maṭar" (with two fatḥas) and "quḥiṭa" (in the passive): it was withheld. And "al-qaḥṭa" is the withholding of rain, and since the withholding of rain is followed by barrenness, they called the barrenness "qaḥṭ."
(16) In the printed edition "ibn ʿAnz," and in the manuscript "ʿAtr," and in the History "ʿAthr," and further on in the History "ʿAnz" occurs.
(17) In the printed edition "from Hudhayl," and what is included is what is in the manuscript, which agrees with what is in the History of al-Ṭabarī.
(18) In the printed edition "wa-ʿAqīl ibn Ṣadd," and what is included is what is in the manuscript, agreeing with what is in the History; and what is in the History is thus: "wa-li-Yaqīm ibn Hazzāl ibn Huzayl ibn ʿAtīl ibn Ḍadd...," and "Ḍadd" with the ḍād in the History, and I suspect that the ṣād is more correct.
(19) In the printed edition "and his kinsmen" (with a different vocalization); what is included is what is in the manuscript, agreeing with what is in the History.
(20) "yataghawwathūn" in the printed edition and the History, and in the manuscript "yataʿawwadhūn," without diacritical points, and that is correct, and thus it is included.
(21) In the printed edition "if I command them to depart," and in the manuscript "if I were to command them to depart"; it is thus correct that something has fallen out of the speech which is supplied from the History.
(22) The verses are in the History, and in al-Bidāya wa-l-Nihāya 1: 126. In the History "yasqīnā al-ghamāmā," and so it stood in the printed edition too, and what is included is what is in the manuscript, and in al-Bidāya wa-l-Nihāya: "yamnaḥunā."
(23) In the manuscript it read "nisāʾuhum ʿirāmā," and the correct reading is what is in the History and the printed edition. "aʿāma al-qawm": their camels perished so that they found no more milk. And "al-ʿayma" is the intense craving for milk. And "ʿāma al-qawm": their milk became scarce through the drought. "A longing man, and a longing woman (ʿaymā)," plural "ʿiyām" and "ʿayāmā." And in al-Bidāya wa-l-Nihāya "nisāʾuhum ayāmā," plural of "ayyim," the woman whose husband has perished.
(24) In the manuscript it read "saʿūdūn" without diacritical points, and in the History and the printed edition "yataghawwathūn"; see the previous note p. 509, no. 6.
(25) The verses are in the History of al-Ṭabarī 1: 112.
(26) In the printed edition "we do not obey you," and what is included is what is in the manuscript, agreeing with what is in the History.
(27) In the manuscript it read "ataʾmurunā bi-l-sirk," without diacritical points, and above it the letter (ṭ) as an indication of doubt and error, and the correct reading is what is in the printed edition, agreeing with the History. And in the printed edition "dīn wafd, wa-raml wa-l-Ṣadāʾ maʿa al-Ṣamūd," entirely divergent from what is in the manuscript. And what I have included from the manuscript agrees with what is in the History. Abū Jaʿfar said in this report, after these verses in his History: "And Rifd, and Raml, and Ḍadd are tribes of ʿĀd, and al-ʿUbūd belongs to them."
(28) In the printed edition "and he said: I will not ask Allah for anything for which they have set out," whereby he added from his own invention something that was not permitted to him. And in the manuscript "faqāla an yadʿuwa Allāha bi-shayʾin mimmā kharajū lah"; the correct reading is from the History of al-Ṭabarī.
(29) "ramād rimdid": utterly burned and fine. One says: "ramād armad" and "rimdid" (with kasra on the rāʾ, sukūn on the mīm and kasra on the dāl) and "ramdad" (with kasra on the rāʾ, sukūn on the mīm and fatḥa on the dāl).
(30) In the printed edition "lā tabqi"; what is included is what is in the manuscript and the History.
(31) "hāmid, and hamid, and hamīd": a dead, perished one. "hamada, humūdan": he died and perished.
(32) In the History: "...Hazzāl ibn Huzayl ibn Huzayla ibn Bakr," and that is evidently the correct reading.
(33) In the History "fa-lammā tabayyanat," and that seems more likely.
(34) Surah al-Ḥāqqa: 7.
(35) In the printed edition "wa-taltadhdh bih," whereby something is added that is neither in the manuscript nor in the History.
(36) In the manuscript and the printed edition "wa-ibnih" (and his son); the correct reading is from the History, and from the beginning of the report.
(37) "al-musy" (with ḍamma and sukūn) is the evening, like al-ṣubḥ and al-ṣabāḥ. And in the printed edition and the History "masāʾ thālitha," and what is included is what is in the manuscript.
(38) In the printed edition "Hudhayla"; the correct reading is from the manuscript and the History.
(39) The narration 14804 — this report al-Ṭabarī transmitted in his History, abridged at the beginning and then at length at the end 1: 111-113.
(40) In the printed edition "by a woman"; what is included is what is in the manuscript.
(41) In the printed edition "and we had the turn against them," divergent from and with an addition to what is in the manuscript, which is tampering with the text; the correct reading is from the manuscript. "al-dabra" (with fatḥa on the dāl and sukūn or fatḥa on the bāʾ): the defeat for them, and the victory and triumph for the others.
(42) In the printed edition "toward where then is your driven one driven, O Messenger of Allah," which is a defective and ugly intervention and utterly bad. The correct reading is what is in the manuscript. "Muḍar" is the root-stock of the Arabs, and that is "Muḍar ibn Nizār ibn Maʿadd ibn ʿAdnān," from whom Quraysh and the Banū Tamīm descended, and that is why the woman from Tamīm said to the Messenger of Allah "your Muḍar," because it is his forefather and her forefather.
(43) In the printed edition "my likeness is as the likeness of what the first one said: a goat that carried its own destruction," whereby something from another narration was added, and that is a grave blunder, and he made of "ḥatfan" "ḥatfahā"; what is included is what agrees with his narration in the History. And his word "a goat that carried its own destruction" means: it carried its death, a proverb for one who carries that in which his destruction lies. It is not to be found in the books of proverbs.
(44) "Mahra" (with fatḥa and sukūn), a large tribe, and he is the forefather of a tribe: "Mahra ibn Ḥaydān ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥāf ibn Quḍāʿa," and the land of Mahra lies in the region of al-Shiḥr of Yemen, in the land of al-ʿAnbar on the shore of the sea. And in the printed edition and the manuscript it read "Then they separated from him until they came to the mountains of Mahra," and this is a sentence that severely disrupts the coherence of the report, in which the pronouns diverge and the report has no bond that holds it together; it seems to be tampering by the copyist, for Abū Jaʿfar transmitted this report in the History with its isnād and wording, and from it the text of the report is included, for thereby the speech is made coherent.
(45) In the printed edition "minhā" (from it) was omitted, without clear reason.
(46) In the printed edition and the manuscript "fa-samiʿahum wa-kallamahum" (he heard them and spoke to them); the correct reading is from the History.
(47) In the printed edition and the manuscript "alladhīna ātāhum"; the correct reading is from the History.
(48) In the printed edition and the manuscript "wa-kallamahum"; the correct reading is from the History.
(49) The narration 14805 — "Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh," trustworthy, he was among the devout, meticulous masters of memory, except that his memory deteriorated when he grew old, so that he erred when he transmitted. And error and mistake are two things from which man is not free; whoever does not commit much of that does not deserve that his transmission be rejected, after established trustworthiness — thus said Ibn Ḥibbān, and he spoke the truth. He has passed under no. 2150, 3000, 5725, 8098. And "ʿĀṣim" is "ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdala," "ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd," trustworthy, eminent and renowned, passed many times. As for "al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān al-Bakrī," he is also called "al-Ḥārith ibn Yazīd al-Bakrī," and it is said that his name is "Ḥurayth"; and Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr declared correct that his name is "al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān," and said: "And most say al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān al-Bakrī, and that is the correct view, if Allah wills." But it is remarkable that the ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said in al-Tahdhīb: "And Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr declared correct that his name is Ḥurayth," which is a grave error, for what I cited is the literal text of Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr in al-Istīʿāb!! Let then what is in al-Tahdhīb be corrected. And "al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān al-Bakrī" has a biographical entry in Ibn Saʿd 6: 22, and in al-Kabīr of al-Bukhārī 1/2/259, and al-Istīʿāb: 109, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/2/71, and Asad al-Ghāba 1: 323, and al-Iṣāba in his biography, and al-Tahdhīb. From him Abū Wāʾil and Simāk ibn Ḥarb transmitted. And the report of "al-Ḥārith al-Bakrī" will follow with another isnād: "on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn Yazīd al-Bakrī." As for this isnād "ʿĀṣim, on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān al-Bakrī" — without "Abū Wāʾil" standing between them — Ibn al-Athīr said in Asad al-Ghāba in the biography of "al-Ḥārith": "And Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal likewise transmitted it, and Saʿīd al-Amawī, and Yaḥyā al-Ḥimmānī, and ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Ṣāliḥ, and Abū Bakr ibn Shayba, all: on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of al-Ḥārith, and they did not mention Abū Wāʾil." The ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said in al-Tahdhīb in the biography of "al-Ḥārith": "And from him ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdala transmitted," and the correct view is: on his authority, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, on the authority of al-Ḥārith. And Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said in al-Istīʿāb: "And they differ over his transmission: some place it on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdala, on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān, without mentioning Abū Wāʾil therein, and the correct view therein is: on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān." And so others also said. And this report with this isnād Abū Jaʿfar transmitted once more in his History 1: 110, and its beginning Aḥmad transmitted in his Musnad 3: 481, "on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, who said: ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Fazr (??) related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān al-Bakrī," abridged, and that is the beginning of the report. And as for what is in the printed Musnad, "ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Fazr," I consider it likely a misspelling of "ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd," for the transmission is his, and I do not know that he is called "ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Fazr." And by this same path Ibn Māja transmitted it abridged in his Sunan p. 941, no. 2816, in a manner like the wording of Aḥmad. And the source-citation of this report of "al-Ḥārith" will follow in the next narration.
(50) "munqaṭaʿ bihā" (with ḍamma on the mīm and fatḥa on the qāf and the ṭāʾ). One says: "quṭiʿa bi-l-rajul, fa-huwa maqṭūʿ bih," and "inquṭiʿa bih, fa-huwa munqaṭaʿ bih" (all in the passive): when someone is on a journey and his mount has collapsed, and his provisions and money have run out, or something befalls him whereby he cannot stir.
(51) At this place Abū Jaʿfar said in his transmission in the History: "Abū Jaʿfar said: I think he said: and there were black banners."
(52) In the printed edition "ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ," with omission of the bāʾ, while it is established in the manuscript and in the transmission of the report in the History.
(53) In the printed edition "and we had the upper hand over them," and in the manuscript "and the turn was against them" without diacritical points, and what is included is the transmission of Abū Jaʿfar in the History, and the transmission of Aḥmad in his Musnad. See the previous note p. 514, note 1.
(54) "ḥamiyat": she flared up in anger, and the agitation and the pride and the rage seized her. And "istawfaza al-rajul fī qaʿdatih": when he sits upright and restless, not fully standing, like one who is ready to spring up, and that occurs in dispute, anger, quarrel and altercation.
(55) In the printed edition "toward where then is your driven one driven," which is a modification of what is in the manuscript and an addition to it, as he did earlier p. 514, note 2.
(56) In the printed edition "ḥatfahā," agreeing with the transmission of Aḥmad in his Musnad, but what I have included is what is in the manuscript and the History, except that in the History "ḥayfan" stands, an error; the correct reading is what is included. See what has passed earlier p. 514, note 3.
(57) In the printed edition and the manuscript "he said: You have struck upon the expert"; what is included is what is in the History.
(58) "istaṭʿamahu al-ḥadīth": that is to say he urged him to tell it to him, as though he wished to let him taste the savor of his story. That is said when he brings him to it, while he himself knows more of the story than he does; and the explanation of it occurs in the report of Aḥmad in his Musnad: "and he knew more of the story than he did, but he drew it out of him." And the explanation of this expression in the lexicographical works is not complete, so it is recorded here.
(59) In the printed edition "and two slave-girls sang to him," divergent from what is in the manuscript, and that agrees with what is in the tafsīr and the Musnad of Aḥmad.
(60) In the printed edition and the History of al-Ṭabarī "O Allah, give to drink," and what is included is what is in the manuscript. And the rest of the sentence has in the manuscript shifted from its place, namely his word "as You used to give them to drink," and that is established in the History, but in the printed edition and the manuscript it was made "musqīh," as in the previous narration, but "tusqīh" is the transmission of Abū Jaʿfar in the History, and likewise the transmission of Aḥmad.
(61) After his word "and from it was called" they placed "as You used to give them to drink," as I have already indicated in the previous note.
(62) In the printed edition "fa-fīmā balaghanī," and what is included is what is in the manuscript, agreeing with the transmission of Abū Jaʿfar in the History, and the transmission of Aḥmad in the Musnad.
(63) The narration 14806 — this is another isnād for the previous narration, and it is the isnād to which I referred there, that "Abū Wāʾil" stands therein between "ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdala" and "al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān al-Bakrī," and that this is the correct view. And "al-Ḥārith ibn Yazīd al-Bakrī" is "al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān al-Bakrī," over whom there is disagreement, as I said in the note on no. 14805. And "Sallām, Abū al-Mundhir al-Naḥwī" is "Sallām ibn Sulaymān al-Muzanī"; Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said: "worth nothing," and Abū Ḥātim said: "truthful (ṣadūq), sound in transmission." And al-Sājī said: "truthful, he errs, not meticulous in transmission." And Ibn Maʿīn said another time: "he is accepted on account of his truthfulness." He has a biographical entry in al-Tahdhīb, and al-Kabīr 2/2/135, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/1/259, and Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl 1: 400. As for "Abū Wāʾil," that is "Shaqīq ibn Salama al-Asadī," trustworthy, an imam, passed many times. As for the woman who is mentioned in this report and the previous report, that is: "Qayla bint Makhrama al-Tamīmiyya," from the Banū al-ʿAnbar ibn ʿAmr ibn Tamīm, and in some books she is mentioned as "al-Ghanawiyya," which is a misspelling of "al-ʿAnbariyya." And the transmission of "Qayla" is a long transmission, with many rarities, which Ibn Ḥajar mentioned in her biography in al-Iṣāba. And in the investigation of her report and the report of "al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān al-Bakrī" or "Ḥurayth ibn Ḥassān al-Shaybānī," the envoy of Bakr ibn Wāʾil (as in her biography in Ibn Saʿd 8: 228), there lies an extensive discussion that is not in its place here. And this report Abū Jaʿfar transmitted in his History with this same isnād. And Aḥmad transmitted it in his Musnad 3: 481, 482 by two paths: by the path of ʿAffān, on the authority of Sallām Abū al-Mundhir, on the authority of ʿĀṣim = then he transmitted it by the path of Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb, on the authority of Abū al-Mundhir Sallām ibn Sulaymān al-Naḥwī, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd, in a similar manner. And Ibn Saʿd transmitted it in the Ṭabaqāt 6: 22 by the path of ʿAffān, on the authority of Sallām Abū al-Mundhir, abridged. And al-Bukhārī transmitted its beginning in al-Kabīr 1/2/259. And Ibn al-Athīr transmitted it in the biography of "al-Ḥārith" in Asad al-Ghāba, and Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr in al-Istīʿāb abridged, and Ibn Ḥajar in al-Iṣāba. And Ibn Kathīr transmitted it in his tafsīr 3: 502 / 7: 470, by the path of Aḥmad in his Musnad. And he transmitted it likewise in al-Bidāya wa-l-Nihāya 1: 127, 128, and said: "And Ibn Jarīr transmitted it, on the authority of Abū Kurayb, on the authority of Zayd ibn Ḥubāb, with it. And in it occurred: on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn Yazīd al-Bakrī, and he mentioned it. And he transmitted it likewise, on the authority of Abū Kurayb, on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥassān al-Bakrī, and he mentioned it. And I did not see in the copy: Abū Wāʾil, and Allah knows best." I say: he means the previous narration, see the note there. And Ibn Kathīr said likewise in al-Bidāya wa-l-Nihāya: "Al-Tirmidhī transmitted it, on the authority of ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, on the authority of Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb, with it. And al-Nasāʾī transmitted it from the ḥadīth of Sallām Abū al-Mundhir, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdala. And by his path Ibn Māja transmitted it. And thus more than one of the exegetes, such as Ibn Jarīr and others, have cited this ḥadīth and this history in the exegesis of this story. And it may be that this account concerns the destruction of the later ʿĀd, for in what Ibn Isḥāq and others mentioned there is a mention of Mecca, and it was built only after Ibrāhīm the Friend, when he settled Hājar and his son Ismāʿīl there, after which Jurhum settled with them, as will follow. And the first ʿĀd were before the Friend. And in it there is a mention of 'Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr' and his poem, which belongs to the poetry that is later than the time of the first ʿĀd, and does not resemble the speech of the ancients. And in it: that in that cloud there were fire-sparks, while the first ʿĀd were destroyed only by a howling, violent wind." And this is a very good critique of all these preceding reports, and the report that follows hereafter.
(64) In the History: "qaḥṭ min al-maṭar."
(65) In the printed edition and the manuscript "tanādaw al-buyūt," which has no meaning; the correct reading is from the History "tabādarū," they hastened.
(66) In the printed edition "the punishment persisted over them"; what is included is what is in the manuscript, agreeing with what is in the History.
(67) This is the exegesis of the verses from "Surah al-Qamar": 19, and "Surah al-Ḥāqqa": 7.
(68) This is the exegesis of the verse "Surah al-Ḥāqqa": 7 = "as though they were empty palm-trunks."
(69) In the printed edition "He sent to them"; the correct reading is from the manuscript and the History.
