Topic: Rejected Allah, Messengers

Commentary:

The words, Verily, we do disbelieve in that in which you believe, in popular parlance signify a typical form of arrogant but veiled threat generally held out by rich and powerful people to the weaker and poorer section of society. The words may be interpreted as: "How dare you, weak and poor as you are, accept a teaching which we, your betters and superiors, have thought fit to reject?"

10:25.

Commentary:

This verse is in substance part of the preceding verse, from which it has been separated to emphasize the greatness of the calamity that overtook the tribe of Thamud.

It is interesting to note that while in v. 61 the account of the ‘Ad concluded with the words, Behold! cursed are ‘Ad, the people of Hud, the verse under comment,, which concludes the account of the Thamud in almost identical words, simply says, Behold! cursed are the tribe of Thamud, omitting the words "the people of Salih." It would be wrong to assume that the words قوم ھود (the people of Hud) were added in v. 61 for the sake of rhyme. The Quran never adds or omits words simply for the sake of rhyme; every word added or omitted has a definite purpose. In v. 61 the words "the people of Hud" have been added to the word "‘Ad" for an historical reason, for ‘Ad is in fact the name of two tribes, the first ‘Ad and the second ‘Ad, and the words "the people of Hud" have been added to show that it is the first and not the second ‘Ad (nor in fact both ‘Ads) that are meant there. But as Thamud was the name of one tribe only, the words "the people of Salih" have been omitted, for their addition would have served no useful purpose.

6:35; 35:26; 40:6; 54:10.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that those who reject God’s Prophets and do not observe the principles laid down in the preceding verses invite and incur Divine wrath. As an illustration the verse gives the instances of the people of Noah, and of the tribes of ‘Ad and Thamud. These peoples were visited with God’s punishment because they ignored and defied His commandments.

7:74; 11:62-63; 27:46.

Commentary:

This and the following several verses deal with the tribe of Thamud. According to Abu Isma‘il, the author of Futuhush-Sham, they were a very powerful people. Their rule and dominion had extended from Busra, a town in Syria to Aden. They had made great progress in agriculture and architecture. They were a highly civilized and cultured people. The tribe has been mentioned by Greek historians. They place it in a period not long before the Christian era. Hijr or Agra, as they call it, is given as the home of these people. Al-Hijr which has also been known as Mada’ini Salih (the Cities of Salih) and which seems to have been the capital of these people lies between Medina and Tabuk, and the valley in which it is situated is called Wadi Qura. The Quran represents them as the immediate successors of ‘Ad (7:75). From 40:31-32, it appears that they lived before the time of Moses. It is worthy of note that the accounts of the Prophets Noah, Hud and Salih have been given at various places in the Quran and everywhere the order observed is the same, viz. the account of Noah precedes that of Hud and the account of Hud precedes that of Salih, which is the true chronological order. This shows that the Quran gives accurately and in their true historical order the facts of history long consigned to oblivion and quite wrapped in obscurity. For a fuller note on Thamud see 11:62.

69:5.

Commentary:

As all Prophets are commissioned by God and their revelation proceeds from the same Divine Source and contains analogous eternal basic principles, the rejection of one Prophet amounts to the rejection of all of them. That is why the verse describes the tribe of Thamud as having rejected all Divine Messengers while, in fact, they had rejected only the Prophet Salih.

Commentary:

In this and the next four verses is cited the example of the tribe of Thamud who defied Divine guidance and opposed their Prophet working out thereby their own ruin.