Translation
To the People of Thamud, We sent Salih, who was of them, and he said: “O my people, serve God; besides Him, you have no other deities. Your God has sent you guidance that can be easily understood. Here is a female camel, a sign (and trial, 54:27) from God; leave her alone to roam on God’s earth and do her no harm, lest the evil consequence of your action touches you. Reflect how He (God) established you after ʿĀd and settled you in the land, where you built castles in its valley and carved out dwellings on the mountainside. Remember such graces of God, and do not spread corruption in the land and make mischief.”
Their proud leaders asked those who believed (in Salih’s message) and those whom they deemed to be weaker (and less fortunate than themselves): “Do you know if Salih has been sent by his God?” They said: “We do believe in what he has been sent with.” But those proud (leaders) replied: “We reject what you believe in.” They then went ahead, tortured the she camel to death, revolted against guidance of God, and challenged Salih: “Bring on that punishment (evil consequence) that you warned us with if you are a messenger (from God).” The earthquake then overtook them, and they lay dead (motionless) in their own homes. So Salih moved on, saying: “O my people, I have delivered messages from my Sustainer and gave you good counsel, but you do not love such advisers (who give good advice).” 370
(Similarly) We sent Lot, and he said to his people: “Do you commit an act so shameful that none have done this before in this world—you come on to men in lust as opposed to women? You are a people who commit excess.” His people had no other answer than to say: “Get him out of this town—he and his people aspire to purity!” We saved and delivered Lot and his followers, except his wife, who remained behind with others on whom We let torrents of rain descend. See then how we bring an end to those who are sinful. 371
To the people of Midian, We sent one of them—Shuaib, who said: “O my people, worship God, besides Whom you have no other deities. Guidance has come to you from your Sustainer God; Give full measure, weigh (apportion) and give what is due to others without diminishing (by any means); do not spread corruption and mischief in the land after peace and order have been restored. This is better for you, if you care to believe. Do no put obstacles by threatening and deterring people who wish to believe in God and follow His guidance and do not attempt to distort the truth. You should remember when you were few in numbers and how God made you a larger community; you should also reflect on what happens to those who make mischief and spread corruption! Since there is a group of you who accept what I have been sent with and there is another party who does not; let’s wait with patience (and give each other space to differ) until God provides His judgment between us since He is the Best of all Judges.”
The leaders of his community, being arrogant and proud, said: “Shuaib, we will force you and those who believe with you from our town unless you come back to our religion.” Shuaib replied: “(are you going to force us) even if we dislike it (your religion)? If we do go back to it after God has guided us, then we will be inventing a lie against God. We will not go back unless God, our Cherisher, wills as such. Our Sustainer encompasses all knowledge (so he is aware of our situation), and on Him do we rely. O our Sustainer, expose the truth between us and our community; You are the Best Exposure!”
The leaders of his community who disbelieved said (to others): “If you follow Shuaib, you will suffer losses.” (Before they could carry out their threat), an earthquake (and/or volcanic eruption) overwhelmed them, and they were reduced to dead bodies, lying on the ground in their own homes. It was as if they had never lived there; they, who called Shuaib a liar, turned out to be the real losers. As he turned away (from witnessing the calamity), he said: “O my people, I have communicated the guidance of my Sustainer God to you, and I have given you good counsel. So how can I now empathize with people who persistently deny (the truth)?” 372
Interpretation
370 Salih is mentioned about sixteen times in various chapters regarding his encounter with his community, Thamud, which is related to ʿĀd and is descended from Aram and Noah, similar to ʿĀd. The inscription of Sargon in the year 715 BC mentions the Thamud residing among the people of eastern and central Arabia. There are also mentions of the Thamud (Thamudaei, Thamudenes) in Aristo, Ptolemy, and Pliny. Rock inscriptions pertaining to their existence are still found in the region of Al-Hijr (15:80), northernmost Hijaz, and bordering Syria.
371 Lot, a nephew of the Prophet Abraham, is mentioned in greater detail in the surah “Hud” (11:69–83) and about twelve more times in various other places in the Qur’an, and he is also mentioned in the Bible (for example, Genesis 19:26). One of the major sins that is mentioned in relationship to Lot’s people is the prevalence of coercive homosexuality, among many other corrupt social practices, false beliefs, and social injustices that the Qur’an does not go into detail about. The Qur’an also mentions that both Abraham and Lot pleaded with God for leniency, despite their transgressions, when Angels visited them regarding the future of Lot’s community for their corruption and evil practices, about which the Bible contains more details. Some of the details in the Bible could be doubtful, since it also contains elements of moral lapse on the part of Lot that the Qur’an does not support or mention.
372 Shuaib is thought of as the biblical prophet Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, also known as Reuel in the Bible (Exodus 2:18). The area of Midian (Madayin in the Qur’an) refers to areas of the present-day Gulf Coast of Aqabah and the Sinai Peninsula extending all the way to the Moab desert and mountains leading to Dead Sea. The Qur’an brings to light a number of corrupt practices prevalent in their society:
· a lack of justice and fairness,
· defrauding people from what was justly due to them through various means (social, moral, and financial),
· the worship of multiple gods and forcing people to believe in their gods instead of One True God, and
· threating people with expulsion if they did not conform to their social and political norms, among other things.
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REFLECTION
As we read the stories of various prophets and become aware of the moral, ethical, social, and financial lapses in their contemporary societies and the pride and arrogance with which these communities dealt with prophets and people who were preaching and practicing humility, social justice, and belief in One God, we have to be keenly aware of whether such practices exist in our contemporary world, perhaps in different forms and under the pretense of emerging social norms. We know and are aware of the cases of slavery on the American continent, the Holocaust in Europe, apartheid in South Africa, the atrocities of the Japanese against the Chinese, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Myanmar, the treatment of non-Arabs as second-class citizens in the Middle East, and the dehumanization of people in Palestine and Israel using faith as an excuse, just to name a few examples that have gained global currency. We also know of widespread political and financial corruption in many countries and in financial markets; alarming income disparities in the world; total disregard for the environment; the marginalization of human life and dignity in our political discourse, wealth propagation, and religious practices; and an unprecedented level of human anxiety at an individual level regarding terrorism and counterterrorism propagated by religious fanatics, terrorists, and civil societies alike.
ACTION
Every generation of human beings and societies will be challenged by the prevalence of corruption, moral lapses, the disturbance of human dignity, and the lack of social justice despite—or as a result of—our ever-increasing knowledge and God-given freedom of choice. At every fork of our human journey, we must make choices, individually and collectively, whether to use our collective knowledge, wisdom, and free choice to benefit humanity and our living planet or go down in history as the people who were bystanders to—or, worse still, perpetrators of—human indignity and abuse of our God-given talents and resources.
Key Arabic Terms
117. fahishat (despicable, shameful)