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kadhdhabat qablahum qawmu nūḥin wa-ʿādun wa-firʿawnu dhū l-ʾawtādi
Before them Noah’s people impugned [their apostle] and [so did the people of] ‘Ad, and Pharaoh, the Impaler [of his victims],
— Ali Quli Qarai
38ṢādصVerse 12 of 88
Sad38. Ṣādص
Ṣād
Saad
MeccanVerse 12 of 88
Surah Sad - Verses 12-16
12. “Before them, the people of Noah, and ‘Ad, and Pharaoh, the lord of stakes, belied (messengers),”
13. “And Thamud and the people of Lot, and the dwellers of the Thicket, these were the parties (who also rejected the messengers).”
14. “There was none of them but belied the messengers, so just was My retribution.”
15. “And these (infidels) do not wait aught but a single blast, which (when it comes) will brook no delay.”
16. “And they (ridiculously) say: ‘O our Lord! Hasten on to us our portion before the Day of Reckoning.”
These verses refer to the evil end of the peoples of six prophets who lived before Islam, so that both the pagans of the time of the Prophet of Islam (S) may take a lesson, and the Prophet (S) and the believers know that rejecting prophets has an old background and it is not a new thing and they should also know that if there comes a punishment there will not be given any respite to the disbelievers. Following the last verse which was explained and informed of the defeat of the polytheists in future, and introduced them as a small army out of the ‘defeated parties’, now, it introduces a group of the parties who belied the prophets and afflicted a bad fate.
It says:
And in the next verse it says:
Yes, these were six groups out of parties of Ignorant and idolaters who opposed against the prophets: The people of Noah against this great prophet. The people of ‘Ad against Hud, the prophet. Pharaoh against Moses and Aaron (as). The people of Thamud against Hadrat Salih. The people of Lot against Hadrat Lot. The dwellers of the Thicket against Shu‘ayb, the prophet. They did their best in belying, hurting and vexation of both Divine prophets and believers. But, finally, the Divine punishment came over them and, like a dry farm, it reaped them.
The people of Noah were destroyed by means of Storm and heavy rains; the people of ‘Ad by a strong wind; Pharaoh and his people by the waves of Nile; the people of Thamud by heavenly Blast (and great Thunderbolts); the people of Lot by a horrible earthquake accompanied with the rain of heavenly pebbles; and the people of Shu‘ayb were also destroyed by an annihilating thunderbolt which came down over them from a piece of cloud, and thus, the water, wind, dust, and fire which form the means of life for man were ordered to destroy them, and they vanished them so violently that there remained no trace of them.
These polytheists of Mecca should think that, comparing these parties, they were not more than a small group, why did they not awake from the sleep of negligence? The attribution of /ŏul’autad/ (the lord of stakes) for Pharaoh which is mentioned clearly in these verses and also in Surah Al-Fajr, No. 87, verse 10 is ironically used to show firmness. It is said, for example, the nails of so and so are firm; or the nails of this job have been fastened; or it has been fastened with four nails, because for firmness of a building or the tents the nails are always used.
Some commentators have considered it as a hint to the great troops of Pharaoh, because an army usually uses tents and for holding tents nails are used. Some other commentators say that it refers to the horrible tortures of the Pharaohs unto their enemies that so to speak, they crucified them and fastened each of their hands and feet with nail to the ground, to a gallows-tree, or to a wall and left them to die. And, at last, some commentators have said that probably the Arabic word /’autad/ is the same as /’ahram/ (pyramids) in Egypt which are fixed into the ground like a nail, and since pyramids are from the specialties of the Pharaohs, this quality in the Qur’an is used inclusively about them.
In the meanwhile, these probabilities are not contradictory with each other and they may gather in the concept of this word. The Arabic word /’aykah/ means ‘tree’ and the Qur’anic phrase /’ashab-ul-’aykah/ are the very people of Hadrat Shu‘ayb who used to live in a land with abundant water and trees located between the lands of Syria and Mecca and Medina. In the commentary of Surah Al-Hijr, No. 15, verse 78 we have talked enough in this regard. In the third verse, the Qur’an implies that each of these groups belied the Divine messengers and the chastisement of Allah came to them.
It says:
History shows that how each group of them died by a pest and their cities were changed into ruins during a short time and their members turned to be some corpses. In the fourth verse, the Holy Qur’an implicitly says whether these polytheists of Mecca, by these bad actions can have a better fate than them, while their deeds are the same as theirs and Allah’s way of treatment is the same. So, as a decisive and hard threat, it says:
This blast may be similar to the blasts which came upon the former nations. It was a horrible thunderbolt, or an earthquake with a tremendous sound which wiped out their livings. However, these neglectful people, by their rejections and denials of the Divine revelations, and their undue accusations unto the Prophet (S) and their persisting and obstinacy on idolatry, cruelty, and corruption, seemed that they had been waiting for the Divine punishment, a punishment which would burn the stack of their lifetime, or a blast that would put an end to the life of the world and take them to a way which was not returnable.
As many of the commentators and philologist have said, the Arabic word /fawaq/ originally means the length of time between two times of milking milk from the udder, because when the milk is fully milked, it needs waiting a while until the milk gathers in the udder again, and since after milking the milk the udder rests, this word has also been used in the sense of resting and calmness. And also since this distance of time is for returning milk to the udder, this meaning has been used in the sense of ‘return’, too, and that is why the convalescence of a sick person in Arabic is called /’ifaqah/ since health turns back to him.
However, there is no return of rest, calmness, and peace in this horrible blast, and when it happens all the doors will be shut to them. Neither regret is useful nor there is possibility of recompense, nor are shouts of avail. The last verse of the verses under discussion points to one of other statements of the pagans and rejecters who spoke mockingly as follows:
Those blind hearted proud persons were so haughty that even they used to mock the punishment of Allah and His just court. They used to say why He delayed in the portion of their punishment. Among the former nations, these kinds of self-loving feeble-minded persons were not scanty either, but at the time of being captured in the grips of the Divine punishment, they cried like animals and nobody came to help them. The Arabic term /qitt/ originally means something which is cut from its width, and the word /qadd/ means something which is cut from its length.
And since the certain portion of everybody is similar to something broken and cut, this word has been used in the sense of portion. Sometimes it is in the sense of a piece of paper on which something is written, or the names of persons and their prizes are written on it. So, some of the commentators have said upon the commentary of the above mentioned verse that the purpose is this: ‘O’ Allah! Give us the record of our deeds before the day of Judgment.’
They said this statement when the above verses informed that on the Day of Judgment a group of people will have the record of their deeds in their right hand and another group in their left hand. The disbelievers mockingly said that how well was it that their records of deeds were given to them that they would read them and see their own position and fate. However, ignorance and pride are two qualities which are very ugly and blameworthy and they often do not separate from each other. They are the ignorant proud ones, and the proud ignorant ones, and the effects of these two are seen in the polytheists of the Age of ignorant abundantly.
Note the Following Traditions: 1- Imam Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as) said:
“The utmost ignorance is that a person is happy for his ignorance.” 1
2- Again he (as) said:
“The utmost of wisdom is confession to what he does not know.” 2
3- Again he (as) said:
“The utmost of knowledge is the awe of Allah, Glory be to Him.” 3
Footnotes