(31–41) “Then We raised another generation after them. We sent among them a messenger from their own people, proclaiming, ‘Worship Allah; you have no god other than Him. Will you not then fear Him?’ The leading men of his people who disbelieved, denied the meeting in the Hereafter, and whom We had granted luxury in this worldly life said, ‘This is only a human being like yourselves. He eats of what you eat and drinks of what you drink. If you obey a human being like yourselves, you will surely be losers. Does he promise you that, after you have died and become dust and bones, you will be brought forth? Far-fetched, utterly far-fetched, is what you are promised! There is nothing but our worldly life: we die and we live, and we will never be resurrected.(1) He is only a man who has fabricated a lie against Allah, and we will never believe him.’ He said, ‘My Lord, help me because they have denied me.’ Allah said, ‘Before long, they will surely become remorseful.’ Then the Blast seized them justly, and We reduced them to flood debris. So away with the wrongdoing people!”
After mentioning Noah and his people and how He destroyed them, Allah said, “Then We raised another generation after them.” They were apparently Thamūd, the people of Sālih, peace be upon him, because this account resembles theirs.
“We sent among them a messenger from their own people”—a human being like them, whose lineage, standing, and truthfulness they knew. His being one of them would make them more ready to comply and less inclined to recoil from him. He therefore called them to the same thing to which all messengers called their peoples: “Worship Allah; you have no god other than Him.” All the messengers agreed upon this call, and it was the first call they addressed to their peoples: commanding them to worship Allah and informing them that He alone deserves worship, while forbidding them to worship anything besides Him and explaining the falsity and corrupt nature of doing so. Hence He said, “Will you not then fear”—your Lord, and thus shun these idols and images?
“The leading men of his people who disbelieved, denied the meeting in the Hereafter, and whom We had granted luxury in this worldly life said”—that is, the chiefs who combined disbelief with obstinacy and whose worldly luxury drove them to transgression said, in opposition to their prophet, denying him and warning others against him: “This is only a human being like yourselves”—that is, one of your own kind. “He eats of what you eat and drinks of what you drink.” What, then, makes him better than you? Why was he not an angel who neither ate food nor drank?
“If you obey a human being like yourselves, you will surely be losers.” That is, if you follow him and make him your leader even though he is like you, you will have lost your reason and will regret what you have done. How astonishing! True loss and regret belong to those who neither follow nor submit to him. Great ignorance and foolishness belong to anyone too proud to submit to a human being whom Allah has singled out for revelation and favored with His message, yet who is afflicted with the worship of trees and stones.
This resembles their statement: “Are we to follow one human being from among ourselves? We would then surely be in error and madness. Has the Reminder been sent down to him alone from among us? No, he is an arrogant liar.” When they denied his status as a messenger and rejected it, they also denied what he brought concerning resurrection after death and recompense for deeds. They said, “Does he promise you that, after you have died and become dust and bones, you will be brought forth? Far-fetched, utterly far-fetched, is what you are promised!” That is, far indeed is his promise that you will be resurrected after you have disintegrated and become dust and bones.
Their vision was limited, and they deemed this impossible by the measure of their own ability. They compared the Creator’s power to their own—exalted is Allah above that—and consequently denied His power to bring the dead to life, ascribing utter incapacity to Him. They forgot their first creation: the One who brought them into being from nothing can restore them after they have decayed even more easily, though both are easy for Him. Why, then, do they not deny their first creation, defy what is plainly perceptible, and claim, “We have always existed”? Only then could their denial of resurrection be conceded, and the discussion with them move on to proving the existence of the Almighty Creator.
Here is another proof: the One who revives the earth after its death will surely revive the dead. He has power over all things. There is yet another proof in His answer to those who denied the resurrection: “But they marvel that a warner from among them has come to them, and the disbelievers say, ‘This is truly astonishing! When we are dead and have become dust—such a return is far-fetched!’” He answered them: “We certainly know what the earth consumes of them”—that is, as they decay—“and with Us is a well-guarded Record.”
“There is nothing but our worldly life: we die and we live”—that is, some people die while others live—“and we will never be resurrected.”
“He is only a man afflicted by madness.” This, they claimed, was why he had brought what he brought concerning Allah’s oneness ⦗552⦘ and the affirmation of resurrection. “So wait and see about him for a time.” That is, withhold punishment from him, whether by killing or otherwise, out of consideration for him and because he was mad and thus not accountable for what he said. According to their false claim, there was no longer any need to debate him about the truth of what he had brought, for they believed they had recognized its falsity. The only question remaining was whether they should take action against him. Their supposedly sober minds dictated that they spare him and refrain from harming him despite the presence of grounds warranting such action. Could obstinacy and disbelief go any further than this?
Thus, when their disbelief became intense and the warnings did not benefit them, their prophet supplicated against them, saying, “My Lord, help me because they have denied me”—by destroying them and disgracing them in this world before the Hereafter. “Allah said,” answering his supplication, “Before long, they will surely become remorseful. Then the Blast seized them justly”—not through injustice or oppression, but with justice. Because of their wrongdoing, the Blast seized them and destroyed every last one of them.
“And We reduced them to flood debris”—that is, dry, crumbled vegetation like the debris carried by floodwaters and cast along the sides of a valley. He said in another verse, “We sent against them a single Blast, and they became like the dry, broken twigs of a livestock enclosure.”
“So away with the wrongdoing people!” In addition to their punishment, they were consigned to banishment, curse, and condemnation by all creation. “Neither heaven nor earth wept over them, nor were they granted respite.”