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qālū taqāsamū bi-llāhi la-nubayyitannahū wa-ʾahlahū thumma la-naqūlanna li-waliyyihī mā shahidnā mahlika ʾahlihī wa-ʾinnā la-ṣādiqūna
They said, ‘Swear by Allah that we will attack him and his family by night. Then we will tell his heir that we were not present at the murder of his family and that we speak the truth.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah An-Naml - Verse 49
49. “They said: ‘Swear a mutual oath by Allah that surely we will make a sudden attack on him and his family by night, then we will tell his heir, we were not present at the slaughter of his household, and verily we are truthful’.”
The content of this holy verse is similar to the state of the pagans of Mecca who united by an oath and decided to surprise and kill the Prophet of Islam (S) in his bed while he was asleep, but the holy Prophet (S) asked Hadrat Ali (as) to sleep in his bed and thus the enemy’s plot was nullified. Certainly by the appearance of Saleh and his pure religion in the society, those groups were driven to extremities, and it was in that condition that, as the verse says:
The Arabic word /taqasamu/ (swear a mutual oath), in an imperative verb form, means: ‘everybody must participate in making an oath and promise to achieve this great plot’, a promise in which there is no change or return. It is interesting that they made an oath by Allah. It indicates that, besides worshipping idols, they believed in Allah, the Creator of the skies and the earth, too. Therefore, they used to make an oath to Him in relation to important matters.
It also shows that they were so proud that they did this great crime of theirs by mentioning their names; as if they wanted to worship, or to do a godly service. This is the custom of haughty misguided disbelievers. The Qur’anic word /lanubayyitannahu/ (surely we will make a sudden attack on him) is derived from /tabyit/ which means ‘to surprise and to attack suddenly by night’. The application of this meaning here shows that, in the meanwhile, they were afraid of the adherents of Saleh and his tribe.
Therefore, in order that they could reach their own goal and, in the meantime, they might not confront the anger of his followers, they designed the plot of a sudden attack at night and colluded that if Saleh’s followers came to them, all of them with together take an oath that they had no role in that event absolutely, and even they were not present there nor had they witnessed it.