7. Al-A'raaf

He said, ‘Already, terror, chastisement, and wrath from your Lord have fallen, [they] must be [sent down], on you. Do you dispute with me concerning names which you have named, that is, with which you, you and your fathers, have named idols that you worship, for which, that is, for the worship of which, God has not revealed any warrant?, any definitive argument or proof? Then await, the chastisement. Truly I shall be with you waiting’, for that, on account of your denial of me: thus a blighting wind was unleashed against them [cf. Q. 51:4].

And, We sent, to Thamūd (Thamūda, read without declining [the noun], as denoting the tribe [of Thamūd] itself) their brother Sālih. He said, ‘O my people, worship God! You have no god other than Him. Truly there has come to you a clear proof, an illustration, from your Lord, of my truthfulness, this is the she-camel of God, a sign for you (lakum āyatan is a circumstantial qualifier operated by the import of the demonstrative noun [hādhihi, ‘this’]), they had asked him to make it come out of a [specific] rock which they had designated. So leave her to feed throughout God’s earth, and do not touch her with harm, either by hamstringing or beating her, lest you be seized by a painful chastisement.

And remember how He made you vicegerents, on earth, after ‘Ād, and gave you habitations in the land, making castles in its plains, in which you lodge during summer, and hewing its mountains into houses, in which you lodge during winter (buyūtan, ‘houses’, is in the accusative because of the implied circumstantial qualifier). So remember God’s bounties and do not be degenerate in the earth, seeking corruption’.

Said the council of those of his people who waxed proud, [who] disdained belief in him, to those who were oppressed, to such of them as believed, that is, from among his people (li-man āmana minhum, ‘to such of them as believed’, is a substitution for the preceding clause [li’lladhīna istud‘ifū, ‘to those who were oppressed’], repeating the preposition [li-, ‘to’]): ‘Are you aware that Sālih has been sent, to you, from his Lord?’ They said, ‘Yes! Truly we believe in the Message with which he has been sent.’

Said the ones who were proud, ‘Truly we are disbelievers of that which you believe!’

The she-camel was given the water one day and then, another; but they soon tired of this: So they hamstrung the she-camel — Qudār hamstrung her by their command, killing her with a sword — and flouted the commandment of their Lord, and said, ‘O Sālih, bring upon us that which you promised us, in the way of chastisement for [our] killing it, if you are indeed a messenger’.

So the Trembling, a violent earthquake and a cry from the heaven, seized them, and they lay lifeless prostrate in their habitations, keeled over their knees, dead.

So he turned his back on them, Sālih left [them], and said, ‘O my people, I have conveyed to you the Message of my Lord and gave you sincere advice, but you do not love sincere advisers’.

And, mention, Lot (Lūtan is substituted by [the following, idh qāla]) when he said to his people, ‘Do you commit abomination, that is, [penetrating] the rears of men, such as no one in all the worlds ever committed before you, humans or jinn?