Al Mu’minūn

ثُمَّ أَنشَأْنَا مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ قَرْناً ءَاخَرِينَ

فَاَرْسَلْنَا فِيهِمْ رَسُولاً مّـِنْهُمْ أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرُهُ أَفَلاَ تَتَّقُونَ

31. “Then, after them, We produced another generation;”
32. “And We sent among them a messenger from among themselves (saying): ‘Worship Allah. You have no other god besides Him. Will you not keep from evil?’ ”

As His way of treatment, Allah has appointed a prophet for every nation. The prophet must be from among the people themselves, so that they have a practiced and forbearing example among them. Thus, these verses discuss upon the nations that have come after Noah (as) and explain their gloomy fate. They also show that the logic of the unbelievers of later generations were similar to those of the former generations. At first, it says:

“Then, after them, We produced another generation;”

The Arabic word /qarn/ is derived from the word /’iqtiran/, which means proximity, therefore the generation that lives in a particular single age is called a ‘qarn’. Sometimes the time, characterized by a certain generation, in Arabic is called a ‘qarn’. The measurement of the length of a ‘qarn’ as 30 to 100 years is only a convention and is dependent upon the traditions of various nations. Then the next holy verse implies that since man cannot be without a Divine leader, Allah sent a great prophet to them that he would teach them monotheism, the religion of Truth and justice, and would call people to them, as the verse says:

“And We sent among them a messenger from among themselves (saying): ’Worship Allah. You have no other god besides Him. Will you not keep from evil?’ ”

This is what has formed the basis of the call of all Divine prophets. Indeed it has been the call of monotheism that has formed the main substructure of all individual and social reformations. Then the prophet asks the question whether they would not shun polytheism and idol worship, when they are called to monotheism:

(…Will you not keep from evil?)

The prophet and the nation, to which he had been sent, have not been identified in the Qur’an, but with regards to their identities in other verses of the Qur’an, there are two possibilities offered by the commentators:

1) It was the people of Thamud who used to live in an area located in the north of Hijaz, whose prophet was Salih, a great Divine prophet that was appointed to guide those people. They disbelieved in his message and rebelled and were finally destroyed by a heavenly cry (or a deadly thunderbolt).

The evidence of this interpretation is the punishment of the Cry which is mentioned at the end of the holy verses under consideration, and it is also found in Sura Hud, No. 11, verse 67 which clearly is about the people of Salih.

2) It was the people of ‘Aad whose prophet was Hud. Their story is told in other verses of the Holy Qur’an immediately after the story of Noah (as). This itself is a flame of evidence whereby it is possible to interpret the holy verse mentioned above in this way.

However, considering that this nation’s punishment was a very fierce wind that continued for seven nights and eight days destroying them, as verses 6 and 7 of Sura Al-Haqqah have mentioned, it becomes clear that the first interpretation is more correct. Anyway, we see what the reaction of this obstinate nation was to this great prophet’s call of monotheism.