11. Hud

And We sent to Thamūd their brother from the tribe Sālih. He said ‘O my people worship God! affirm His Oneness. You have no god other than He. He it is Who produced you Who began your creation from the earth by creating your father Adam from it and has given you to live therein He has made you inhabitants living therein; so ask forgiveness of Him from idolatry then turn return to Him repentant through acts of obedience. Truly my Lord is Near to His creation by virtue of His knowledge Responsive’ to those who ask of Him.

They said ‘O Sālih you had been one of promise among us that is to say we had hoped that you would become our chief before this that has issued from you. Do you forbid us to worship what our fathers worshipped? in the way of graven images? Truly we are in grave doubt doubt creating great uncertainty concerning that to which you are calling us’ in the way of affirming God’s Oneness.

He said ‘O my people have you considered if I am acting upon a clear proof a clear statement from my Lord and He has given me from Him mercy prophethood who will help me who will defend me against God against His chastisement if I disobey Him? You would only be adding by commanding me to do that to my loss my misguidance.

And O my people this is the she-camel of God a sign for you āyatan is a circumstantial qualifier operated by the demonstrative noun hādhihi ‘this’. Leave her to eat in God’s earth and do not cause her any harm by hamstringing her lest you be seized by a near chastisement’ if you do hamstring her.

So when Our command came for their destruction We delivered Sālih and those who believed with him they numbered 4000 by a mercy from Us and We delivered them from the ignominy of that day read yawmi’idhin if understood as declinable or read yawma’idhin on the basis of it yawm ‘day’ being annexed to an invariable idhin ‘that’ which is the majority view. Truly your Lord is the Strong the Mighty the Victor.

And those who did evil were seized by the Cry so that they ended up lying lifeless prostrate in their habitations keeled over their knees dead

as if ka-an had been softened and its subject omitted in other words understand it as ka’annahum they had not dwelt there in their dwelling-place ‘Lo! Thamūd disbelieved in their Lord lo! away with Thamūd!’ this may be read declined li-Thamūdan or left as indeclinable li-Thamūda referring to the district or the tribe.

And verily Our messengers came to Abraham with good tidings of the birth of Isaac and after him Jacob. They said ‘Peace!’ salāman is a verbal noun. He said ‘Peace!’ be upon you and did not delay to bring a roasted calf.

And when he saw their hands not reaching to it he was suspicious of them and conceived he kept secret in himself a fear of them. They said ‘Fear not. Lo! we have been sent to the people of Lot’ to destroy them.