قَوْمِ

7:64; 10:3; 38:5; 50:3.

6:166; 7:75, 130; 10:15.

Important Words:

خلفاء (inheritors of God’s favours) is the plural of خلیفة which is verbal adjective from خلف meaning, he came after, followed, succeeded another, or remained after another. خلفه also means, he was or became his successor, vicegerent or substitute. خلف الرجل means, he lived after the man and took his place. خلیفة means, a successor; vicegerent; lieutenant; substitute; deputy; one who has been appointed to take the place of him who has been before him; the supreme ruler or sovereign who supplies the place of him who has been before him; the Successor of a Prophet (Lane and Aqrab). In the text the word خلفاء has been rendered as "inheritors of His favours", signifying that just as Noah and his people inherited God’s favours in their time, Hud and his people, who came after them, were also inheritors of God’s favours. See also 2:31.

بصطة (abundantly) is the same as بسطة which is the noun-infinitive from بسط. They say بسطه i.e. he spread it or spread it out; he expanded it; he extended it; he made it wide or ample. بسطة or بصطة means, width or ampleness; length or height; increase or excess; excellence or perfection in body; knowledge or mental powers (Lane and Aqrab).

Commentary:

See note on 7:64 above.

The ‘Adites were a ruling nation. They were a mighty and powerful people. Their rule extended over vast territories. They were the first Arab nation to wield temporal power in Arabia.

20:64; 26:35.

Important Words:

The word ساحر (magician) does not necessarily mean a magician. It also means, an enchanter; fascinator; one knowing, or one skilful and intelligent; one able to make a thing look other than what it is; a deceiver, deluder or beguiler, etc. (Lane). See also 2:103.

2:50; 7:142; 14:7; 28:5.

Important Words:

قاھرون (dominant). For the full meaning of this word see 6:19.

Commentary:

It was the chiefs themselves who had counselled Pharaoh to give respite to Moses and his brother (7:112); but now the same chiefs blamed him for the delay he had allowed Moses and Aaron in accordance with their own advice. This is how a deterioration takes place in the morals of those who meet with disgrace and humiliation.

Pharaoh himself was worshipped as a god by his people (28:39) and he in turn worshipped other deities. Hence, the chief men accused Moses and Aaron of having denounced the worship of Pharaoh and his gods.

The verb نقتل (we will ruthlessly slay) is in the intensified form and expresses the sense of ruthlessness and a slow and gradual process.

This expression is thus intended to signify the hardship and privations which Pharaoh inflicted on the Israelites and by means of which he sought to bring about their gradual but sure and ruthless destruction. The Quran, therefore, cannot be accused of anachronism on the ground that Pharaoh did not slay the children of the Israelites after Moses went to him as a Messenger of God, for it is an authentic fact of history that both before and after Moses went to Pharaoh with his message, the latter had put into execution schemes against the Israelites with a view to bringing about their gradual but inevitable ruin. This is the reason why the Israelites said to Moses and Aaron, "Ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us" (Exod. 5:21). Reference to this is to be found in 7:130. Moreover, the verse does not say that Pharaoh actually caused the Israelite children to be slain on this occasion. It only mentions a threat and not an accomplished fact.

7:182.

Commentary:

This verse makes it clear that all followers of Moses were not corrupt. There were some among them who guided men to truth and acted justly. The Quran never condemns a people wholesale. Its condemnation is confined only to such sections of a people as are corrupt and, therefore, deserve to be condemned. Whenever the Quran mentions the evil practices of a people, it never fails to refer also to the good qualities that some of its members are found to possess. Truly has the Quran said: And let not a people’s enmity incite you to act otherwise than with justice. Be always just; that is nearer to righteousness, and fear Allah. Surely, Allah is aware of what you do (5:9).

14:10; 50:13-15.

10:45; 29:41; 30:10.

Important Words:

المؤتفکات (cities which were over-thrown) is derived from افك. They say افکه i.e. he changed his or its manner of being or state; he turned him or it away or back. They say ائتفکت البلدة باھلھا i.e. the land or town was or became overturned or subverted with its inhabitants. مؤتفکات therefore means, ties overthrown or subverted. It also means, the winds that turn over the surface of the earth, or the winds that blow from different quarters, now from this and now from that (Lane).

Commentary:

This verse explains the words, those before you, occurring in the preceding verse. The reference in words, cities which were overthrown, is to the towns to which Prophet Lot was sent and which were turned upside down on account of their transgression and depravity. The catastrophe was caused by a violent earthquake. The overthrown habitation were according to the Bible, the two towns of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24 & 25). The site is believed to be that of the Dead Sea (Jew. Enc. under Sodom). The Quran speaks of the place as being situated on or near a "permanent way" (15:75-77).

28:43.

Important Words:

اتبعوا (was made to follow) literally means, they were made to follow. تبعه means, he followed him. اتبعه means, he followed and overtook him. اتبعه also means, he made him follow another (Lane).

Commentary:

The word لعنة (curse) when ascribed to God means "removing to a distance" or "casting away from mercy." In this sense the first sentence of the verse would mean that God will remove or cast away disbelievers from His mercy and they will not attain His nearness nor see Him on the Day of Resurrection.

The words, the tribe of ‘Ad behaved ungratefully to their Lord, comprise an extremely touching sentence and indicate how perverse and ungrateful were the ‘Ad that they refused to listen to the voice of their رب (Lord), Who brought them into being and then nourished and sustained them. Nobility of character demanded that they should have been grateful to Him, but by rejecting His Message, they set the seal not only on their ingratitude but also on their folly, because they consigned to oblivion the patent fact that He Who gave them greatness and glory could also degrade and debase them.

51:28-29.

Important Words:

لوط (Lot) may etymologically be taken to have been derived from لاط. They sayلاط الشیء i.e. he concealed the thing. لاط بهmeans, it (the thing) stuck or adhered to it. لوطه بالطیب (lawwata-hu) means, he smeared him or it with much perfume. The Prophet Lot, who was the contemporary of Prophet Abraham, was the ancestor of the Palestinian peoples, Moab and Ammon. As the son of Haran and the grandson of Terah, he was Abraham’s nephew. He joined Abraham in the land of Canaan and in the time of famine went with him to Egypt. He preached to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah but they refused to listen to him and ridiculed and persecuted him; and though Abraham, to whom Lot was a junior and subordinate Prophet prayed for these wicked people and interceded with God on their behalf, they were destroyed on account of their iniquities and transgression (Lane, Enc. Bri. & Jew. Enc.).

Commentary:

Abraham at first took the "messengers" to be ordinary way-farers, but when they refrained from eating of the roasted calf he had placed before them (see the preceding verse), he realized that they were on some special mission which he had failed to understand. He knew that as ordinary wayfarers they could not refuse his hospitality, for wayfarers in that arid land entirely depended on the hospitality of the inhabitants for their food.

The words, conceived a fear of them, do not mean that Abraham was afraid of the strangers but that, when they did not partake of the food, he feared that he might have done something against the etiquette of hospitality and thus had displeased them. He did not, however, express his fear, for such an expression would have implied that he perhaps took them to be mean and greedy. The guests, it appears, read Abraham’s perturbed state of mind from the uneasy expression of his face, so they at once removed his anxiety by telling him that they were in no way displeased and that the reason why they did not partake of food was that their dreadful mission had made them disinclined to eat.

This answer of the visitors also shows that they were not angels; for had they been angels, they would have said that being not human they could not partake of the food.

Commentary:

The fear of Abraham was not concerning his own person but concerning the people of Lot, an evidence of his great righteousness and nobility of character. The news first came to Abraham as a great shock. He did not know what to do. But when he was given the cheering news of the birth of a son who was to be the father of a great nation, he felt some relief and then began to plead with God for the doomed people.

9:70; 40:32; 50:13-15.

Important Words:

نبأ (tidings) is the noun-infinitive, from نبأ (naba’a). They say انباہ ایاہ i.e. he informed him of it. نبأ means, information or a piece of information; an announcement; news or tidings; an account; a narrative or story; an announcement of great utility, from which results either great knowledge or predominance of opinion; news which fills the heart of a person with horror and makes it tremble (Lane, Aqrab & Kulliyat).

ایدیھم (their hands). ایدی is the plural of ید which among other things means, the arm from the shoulder-joint to the extremities of the fingers; palm of the hand; honour; dignity; power; predominance or mastery; good or favour done to a person (Aqrab & Lane). See also 5:65; 9:29.

Commentary:

The words, and those after them. None knows them now save Allah, clearly indicate that Prophets were also raised among nations other than the progeny of Abraham, for, as the verse makes clear, the tribes of ‘Ad and Thamud were followed by some about whom None knows now save Allah, whereas the Prophets that appeared among the progeny of Abraham have been mentioned both in the Quran and the Bible. So the words, None knows them now save Allah, evidently refer to Prophets other than those that appeared among the descendants of Abraham. The words signify that the Prophets referred to have not been mentioned in any of the revealed Books which have remained partially or wholly intact.

The words, they turned their hands to their mouths, have been taken by some commentators to mean that disbelievers turned their hands to their own mouths in amazement at the high-sounding claims of the Prophets. To express wonder in this way is really a form of derision. In this sense the expression would mean that disbelievers treated the Prophets of God with contempt. The words may, however, also mean that disbelievers put their hands on their mouths in a way so as to wish the Prophets to be silent and cease talking about their claims. It is a general practice that when a person desires another person to keep silent, he sometimes puts his hand or occasionally one of his fingers on his own mouth as a sign for the other person to keep silent.

Taking the word ید in the sense of favour or gift, the expression would mean that disbelievers threw the favours of the Prophet in their faces, telling them to keep their teachings to themselves as they (the disbelievers) did not want them. The words that follow support this meaning.

29:40; 40:25.

Important Words:

کنوز (treasures of hoarded wealth) is the plural of کنز which is noun-inf. from کنز (kanaza). They say کنز المال i.e. he buried the property or treasure in the earth; he hoarded it, or stored, or he collected the property and treasured it. کنز therefore, means, treasure, property buried in the earth; property that is preserved in a receptacle; that receptacle in which property is buried or preserved or hoarded; treasure-boxes; anything abundant and collected together (Lane & Aqrab).

مفاتح (stores) is the plural of مفتح (maftah) which is derived from فتح. They say فتح الباب i.e. he opened the door. مفتح (maftah) means, a hoard; a treasure, a store or store room or magazine; buried property. مفتح (miftah) of which مفاتح also is the plural and مفتاح (plural مفاتیح) mean a key (Lane & Aqrab).

لتنوء (would have weighed down) is derived fromناء which means, he rose or rose with difficulty and effort under a load; he was oppressed by weight and fell down. ناء بحمله means, he rose with his burden with effort and difficulty. ناء به الحملmeans, the burden weighed him down (Aqrab).

Commentary:

It would appear that Korah was an Israelite who stood high in the favour of Pharaoh and held one of the principal offices of State under him. Very likely he was Pharaoh’s treasurer. When Pharaoh went on official tour the royal treasures were probably transported under Korah’s charge. In order to safeguard his position and to win further favours from Pharaoh, Korah seemed to have persecuted his own people and behaved haughtily and tyrannically towards them.

The name of Qarun (Korah) seems also to have been symbolically used here for men of material wealth. Abundance of riches has proved the undoing of many a man. Elated with riches and wealth and lulled into a false sense of security, wealthy people are prone to reject God’s Message and defy His Prophets. Korah as it appears from the Bible (Num. 16:1-35), was a believer in Moses. According to Rabbinical literature he was fabulously rich (Jew. Enc.) and in the pride of wealth revolted against Moses and Aaron and consequently perished with his 250 followers, the earth having swallowed them up.

9:70; 14:10; 50:13-15.

Important Words:

دأب (case) is the noun-infinitive from دأب (da’ba). They say دأب فی العمل i.e. he laboured and strove hard and exerted and wearied himself in the work; he remained constant in it.دأب (da’bun) means, working hard and constantly; habit, custom or manner; case, affair or condition (Aqrab). See also 3:12.