Translation
(God sent) Salih, a member of their community to the tribe of Thamud. He said:” O my people, worship and serve God, besides Whom you have no other deities. He (God) brought you forth from this earth and enables you to live on it (and from it). Therefore, ask for His forgiveness (for your evils) and align with God. My Sustainer God is ever ready to respond (to anyone who turns to Him).” They (his community) replied: “Salih, you were the center of our hope (to be a leader among us) before your announcements. Are you telling us that we should not worship whom our forefathers had worshipped before? We are in great doubt about matters that you expound to us.” 499
He (Salih) replied: “Do you not see that I have been given guidance and evidence from my Sustainer God and He has graced me with His blessings. How can I then turn away and misalign with God? Who will help me then? (if I were to listen to you then) you will add nothing but my failure (perdition)! O my people, God gives you this she-camel as a way to test you; let her roam and feed on God’s earth and let not any evil touch her from you; otherwise, you should be prepared for speedy accountability (from God for your evil)”
But they (eventually) hamstrung the camel. So, he announced to them: “Only for three more days you will enjoy living; this is a judgment that will not be proven untrue.” When Our (God’) commandment came to be executed, We saved, by Our grace, Salih and the believers with him from the disgrace of that day (event). Indeed, your Sustainer God is Powerful and Majestic! A (deafening) cry overtook those who did evils so that they were reduced to lifeless bodies in their own houses, as if they had never lived there. They indeed disbelieved and faced the inevitable [Ah, away with Thamud!] 499
Interpretation
499 Prophet Salih was considered a leading figure among his people, and so was Prophet Mohammad, even before each of them became prophets. So when Salih called on his people to believe in One God, Who put them on this earth and made the earth full of resources and nourishment that they could draw from and depend on, he asked them to worship God, to turn away from false gods, and to remove themselves from the evils of their society. But they refused on the pretext that they were only following the practices and beliefs of their ancestors and they did not find his arguments acceptable or believable. So God send a she-camel as a test, and Salih asked them to leave it alone so that it could graze as it pleased, but people eventually killed her, and an earthquake (see 7:78) followed within three days that killed everyone except Salih and his followers.
Divine interventions with natural causes of extraordinary measures descended on many such communities that refused to listen to their prophets—things we have seen with Noah, Lot, Hud, Shuaib, Salih, and Moses. With respect to Prophet Jesus, instead of natural events such as earthquakes, floods, or violent storms, the continued atrocities and tyranny of the Romans were the punishments, and his prophetic mission was fulfilled by his followers over a century later when Christians finally became a dominant force and a religious establishment. With respect to Prophet Mohammad, the first thirteen years were the proof that people of Makkah and the surrounding tribes were unwilling to accept Islam, with few exceptions. God eventually took them to account, not through natural events but by making the Prophet and his followers grow in numbers and in stature and establishing a political and social community that eventually dominated the Arabs through its sheer moral, spiritual, and magnanimous physical strength during his lifetime and spread across the known world within several decades after his death. This was done without a standing army but volunteer forces and an inspired group of people who were committed to the cause of truth and justice and were willing to make any and all sacrifices in all activities of life to uphold truth and justice for all, even those who did not agree with them.
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REFLECTION
The world is in a crisis in our generation, as more than half of humanity is living on the margin, while the top 1 percent control all the wealth across the world, and there is no relenting of this trend. This is compounded by the abysmal abuse and neglect of our environment, drinking water, air, and oceans and irresponsible extraction of natural resources that curates creature comforts at the expense of spiritual and moral degradation. This is unprecedented, and we are the cause of the natural events of increasing floods, storms, rise of the oceans, forest fires, unbreathable air, and water that we can’t drink. In addition to natural events, we are the cause of widespread political, social, and financial corruptions that robbed people of dignity, freedom, financial independence, and moral clarity. On top of that, we have religious people who are giving bad names to God and to spiritual growth by abusing truth and justice in the name of religion while atheists are seizing the moment to defame religions and in turn deny God. This is a vicious circle that is spiraling out of control in our world, and unless each of us can rise up and take personal accountability, it cannot be reversed.
ACTION
A call for action in such an unprecedented decline of human condition, other than material comforts and technological innovation, is a call to our generation to take accountability to for our actions, as individuals and as institutions, whether political, social, or financial, to uphold basic tenets of human existing in terms of basic human dignity and freedom and equal access to life, liberty, and pursuit of fulfilment that are being denied to billions of people on this earth on any given day. This is untenable, and we need dedicated and committed people who are inspired by God’s guidance and our moral obligations to restore balance and prove our worth as God’s special creatures to the stewardship of our planet and our lives.
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Key Arabic Term
147. Saihat: cry (11:67)