وَیٰقَوۡمِ

10:73; 26:110.

26:115.

Commentary:

After referring to the prejudiced attitude of his opponents, Noah now proceeds to defend himself and his followers. In the first place, he asks what purpose he could possibly have in fabricating lies. Was it self-interest or personal aggrandizement that he was seeking? They knew that he asked for no reward from them. Then why should he have resorted to the abominable practice of forging lies? It might be argued that though Noah asked for no reward, he at least commanded the allegiance of his followers and that in itself constituted sufficient motive for his activities. But this objection, too, stands on no solid ground, because the Prophets of God are always the first to act upon the commandments which they enjoin upon others and they subject themselves to a greater discipline than they demand from their followers. They do not exult in the authority they enjoy. Theirs is only a life of sacrifice and service and not of dictatorial authority over others.

After having defended himself, Noah goes on to defend his followers. He repudiates the strictures of his opponents against them by saying that, as they had professed to believe in him, he had no right to drive them away merely on the basis of groundless mistrust and suspicion. Again, as he asked for no reward or recompense from anybody, the distinction of rich and poor did not exist for him and therefore he could not reject or spurn his followers on account of their being of humble origin. Only true and sincere faith carried weight with him, and that his followers possessed in abundance. Therefore, the objection that those who believed in him were poor and lowly was, besides being absurd, quite irrelevant.

Another objection which Noah’s opponents levelled at his followers was that their faith was insincere. Noah rebutted this charge by saying that just as he did not demand any material benefit from them, they also did not demand anything from him. They only sought the favour of God Whom they were sure to meet, and He to Whom nothing is hidden would deal with them according to their faith. So, why should he question or doubt their sincerity?

The words, They shall certainly meet their Lord, also contain an answer to the taunt of disbelievers that Noah’s followers had acquired no superiority over them by believing in him. Noah asked what greater superiority there could be than that his followers had attained nearness to God and had made great moral and spiritual progress, so much so that heavenly light shone in their faces. If in their ignorance his enemies could not see so patent a fact, the fault was their own.

The clause, But I consider you to be a people who act ignorantly, may refer to the sacrifices which the followers of Noah made in the cause of truth, for to believe in a Prophet in the beginning is not an easy matter. It is like plunging into fire. So Noah drew the attention of his opponents to the sacrifices of his followers and pointed out how unreasonable it was to hold their faith to be insincere in view of their great sacrifices for the sake of their faith.

Commentary:

Noah says that his opponents wanted him to drive away his followers on account of their humble origin. But he could not displease God in order to win his opponents’ pleasure by repelling away those who had believed in him for His sake. God was his help and support and without Him he could not acquit himself of the great task with which He had entrusted him. He therefore dared not incur God’s displeasure by driving away his followers.

11:4, 62; 71:11.

Important Words:

مدرارا (pouring down abundant rain) is derived from در which means, it (the milk) was or became copious or abundant; or it flowed copiously or abundantly. They say درت الناقة بلبنھا i.e. the she-camel yielded her milk, or made it to flow, copiously or abundantly. درت السماء بالمطر means, the sky poured down rain abundantly. سماء مدرار means, a sky pouring down abundance of rain. رزق دار means, continual and, uninterrupted sustenance (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

This verse shows that the chief occupation of the people of ‘Ad was agriculture and that they depended on rainwater for the cultivation of their land, there being no wells or canals to irrigate it. It also hints that the acceptance of a Prophet of God improves and betters not only the moral and spiritual condition of a people but also their material condition and leads to all-round progress and prosperity.

7:74; 17:60; 26:156; 54:28; 91:14.

Commentary:

Many legends have been woven round this ناقة (she-camel) of Salih. There is nothing in the Quran to lend support to these fanciful stories. One of these legends, for instance, is that she was miraculously born out of a rock in answer to a prayer of Salih when his people demanded from him a miracle and that she became pregnant at the time of her coming out of the rock, giving birth to a young one immediately after. The Quran, however, nowhere states that there was anything miraculous about her birth. On the contrary, it is clear from 26:154 & 159 that the birth of the she-camel was nothing out of the ordinary and that it was not her birth but the freedom of her movements that was held out as a sign. If the birth of the she-camel had been in any way miraculous, Salih, on the demand of his people for a sign, would have certainly referred them to that extraordinary happening. But, instead, he simply answered that the promised sign would be shown to them, if they interfered with her freedom.

There can be three answers to the question, in what sense was the she-camel a sign:

1. It was a custom in Arabia, as in some other countries as well, that a chief or king would let loose an animal as an emblem of his power and authority and would proclaim that any molestation with its free movements would be severely punished. In accordance with this ancient custom, Salih proclaimed, saying: "This she-camel is for you a sign. If you molest it, you will be held as defying the authority of God and will consequently be visited with Divine punishment."

2. Interference with a beast may mean interference with its rider. To prevent an animal from proceeding on its way amounts to preventing its rider from proceeding on his errand. So when Salih said, let her alone that she may feed in Allah’s earth, he meant that he himself should not be hindered from going about in Allah’s earth for the discharge of his duty of preaching his mission. Salih wanted to go about in the land preaching the word of God, but his people would not allow him to do so. So he told them that the she-camel on which he would go on the mission of preaching the Message of God must be allowed free movement and any interference with her would be regarded as defying God’s purpose and would be met with heavenly punishment.

3. Salih had learned to his sorrow that mixing with his people generally led to disturbance. So in order to avoid contact with them he decided to withhold his animals from the common pasture-lands and selected for himself another grazing ground, which did not belong to these people. Similarly, he abandoned the usual time when his people watered their animals and fixed another time for his own she-camel to drink. After having taken all possible precautions to avoid occasions for disturbance at great personal inconvenience, he told his people that if, even in spite of these precautions, there was any disturbance it would certainly be held as a sacrilegious act on their part which would bring down upon them Divine punishment. This interpretation is supported by the fact that old historical records contain references to a valley named فج الناقة (the valley of the she-camel) which is also mentioned in a book of geography written in 150 B.C. Old Greek historians give its name as Badanata which seems to be a corruption of (Fajjun-Naqqa). The name of this valley indicates that Salih fixed a valley for his she-camel to graze in, separate from the one used by his people, so that she might not mix with their herds and thus disturbance might be avoided.

It might be asked, why should a Prophet of God have behaved like worldly kings and potentates and let loose animals to go and graze where they chose. The present verse embodies an indirect answer to this question, for it is nowhere mentioned in the verse that Salih’s she-camel was to graze in other people’s fields. The verse only says, let her alone that she may feed in Allah’s earth, which obviously refers to land which was not the private property of any individual. So it was no private land in which, Salih’s she-camel was to graze but God’s waste, watered with rain from heaven and indebted to no human labour for its cultivation.

It may further be asked why a whole nation was destroyed for killing a mere she-camel. This objection is also based on a clear misconception, for the cause of Divine punishment was not the killing of the she-camel as such but the fact that the killing of the beast constituted an open challenge to threatening his life and declaring that his people were out to defy God’s authority. So it was not the killing of the she-camel, but the threat to Salih’s own life and the obstruction to his moving about freely in the land with a view to preaching God’s word that brought punishment on his people. See also 7:78.

7:86; 26:184.

Commentary:

The verse hints at the importance of fair and just dealings, especially in business matters.

Commentary:

This verse shows that Shu‘aib came after Noah, Hud, Salih and Lot (and for that matter after Abraham also), but lived before the time of Moses, for he does not here speak of the people of Moses, although Moses lived with his people in the very territory of the people of Shu‘aib. See also note on v. 85 above.

6:136; 39:40.

Important Words:

علی مکانتکم (as best you can). See 6:136.

Commentary:

The words, act as best you can, I too am acting, mean that they should go on working according to their own lights and plans, and he could work as guided by his faith. The results would show who was working in accordance with God’s will and who was seeking to defy and frustrate His purpose.

In fact, Prophets of God always ask their people to leave the matter to God and wait for His decision, but their opponents always seek to take the matter into their own hands. The result invariably is that their efforts to destroy the Prophet and his followers prove futile and they themselves are destroyed.

Important Words:

التناد (calling one another) is derived from نادی. They say نادی الرجل i.e. he called the man loudly or he sat with him in the assembly. تنادی القوم means, the people called one another. یوم التناد means, the day of mutual calling, the day of calling one another for help i.e. the day of distress. تناد (tanadda) may be taken to have been derived from ند (nadda). ند الابل means, the camel took fright and fled or ran away or ran at random. تناد القوم (tanadda) means, the people dispersed; or hated and opposed and separated. According to this root-meaning of the word the expression, یوم التناد (tanad) being synonymous with یوم التناد (tanadd)—one دال having been omitted,—means the day when people will take fright and disperse in different directions; or when they will hate and oppose each other and will become separated (Aqrab).

Commentary:

It is worthy of note that while according to other religions, the highest goal of man is نـجاة i.e. deliverance from sin and its evil consequences, the goal according to Islam is فلاح (23:2) which is attainment of the noble and supreme object for which man has been created and which consists in winning God’s pleasure. Thus the stage of فلاح (attainment of one’s object) is clearly much higher in man’s spiritual development than that of نـجاة.