“There were in the city nine men who spread corruption in the land and did not set things right. (48) They said, ‘Swear to one another by Allah that we shall surely attack him and his family by night; then we shall say to the one entitled to avenge his blood: We did not witness the destruction of his family, and we are surely truthful.’ (49) They devised a plan, and We devised a plan, while they were unaware. (50) So see what became of their plotting: We utterly destroyed them and all their people. (51)”

His saying, exalted is He: “There were in the city”—that is, the city of Thamud, namely al-Hijr—“nine men,” from among the sons of their leading men, “who spread corruption in the land and did not set things right.” They were those who agreed to hamstring the she-camel. They were the wicked leaders of Salih’s people, and their chief was Qidar ibn Salif, who undertook to hamstring her. They used to commit acts of disobedience.

“They said, ‘Swear to one another by Allah’”: that is, they swore an oath, some saying to others, “Swear by Allah, O people.” The phrase “swear to one another” is read in the jussive as an imperative. Another group held that it is in the accusative syntactical position as a past-tense verb, meaning that they had sworn and bound themselves by covenant; its sense being: “They said this while mutually swearing by Allah.”

“We shall surely attack him by night”: that is, we shall kill him at night; “and his family,” meaning his people who had submitted with him. Al-A‘mash, Hamzah, and al-Kisa’i read both verbs in the second-person plural: “You shall surely attack him by night” and “you shall surely say,” with the verb’s lam vowelled with u. The others read both in the first-person plural, with the lam vowelled with a.

“Then we shall surely say to the one entitled to avenge his blood”: that is, to the avenger of his blood, “We did not witness the destruction of his family,” meaning their annihilation, and we do not know who killed him. Whoever reads the mim with an a-vowel understands it as “the perishing of his family.” “And we are surely truthful”—in our claim that we did not witness this.

“They devised a plan”: they treacherously plotted when they intended to attack Salih by night and assassinate him. “And We devised a plan”: We repaid them for their plot by hastening their punishment, while they were unaware.

“So see what became of their plotting: We utterly destroyed them”—the people of Kufah read this as “that We destroyed them,” with an a-vowel, connected to “the outcome”; that is, the outcome was that We destroyed them. ⦗58/b⦘ The others read it as “Indeed, We destroyed them,” with an i-vowel, as a new sentence. “We utterly destroyed them”: that is, the nine men.

They differed over how they perished. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Allah sent angels that night to Salih’s house to guard him. The nine came to Salih’s house with their swords drawn, and the angels pelted them with stones. They could see the stones but could not see the angels, and the angels killed them.

Muqatil said: They came down upon the slope of a mountain, watching one another as they prepared to go to Salih’s house. Then the mountain came down upon them and destroyed them.

“And all their people”: Allah destroyed them by the Cry.

“So those are their houses, fallen in ruin because of their wrongdoing. Surely in that is a sign for people who know. (52) And We saved those who believed and were mindful of Allah. (53) And Lot, when he said to his people, ‘Do you commit this outrage while you see? (54) Do you indeed approach men with desire rather than women? Rather, you are a people who act ignorantly.’ (55)”