(45–53) “We certainly sent to Thamūd their brother Sālih, saying, ‘Worship Allah,’ whereupon they became two factions disputing with one another”—to the end of the account.
Allah Most High informs us that He sent to Thamūd, the well-known tribe, their brother by lineage, Sālih. He commanded them to worship Allah alone and abandon all rivals and idols. “Whereupon they became two factions disputing with one another”: one faction believed, while the other disbelieved—and they were the majority.
“He said, ‘O my people, why do you seek to hasten evil before good?’” That is: Why do you rush to commit evil deeds and pursue them eagerly before performing the good deeds by which your circumstances would improve and your religious and worldly affairs be set aright, when you have no cause to pursue evil deeds? “Why do you not seek Allah’s forgiveness” by repenting of your polytheism and disobedience and asking Him to forgive you, “so that you may receive mercy?” Allah Most High’s mercy is near to those who do good, and one who repents of sin is among those who do good.
“They said” to their prophet Sālih, rejecting and opposing him, “We regard you and those with you as an ill omen.” They claimed—may Allah disgrace them—that they saw no good omen in Sālih and that he and the believers with him had become the cause of their being denied some of their worldly aims. Sālih replied: “Your ill fortune is with Allah.” That is, whatever has befallen you is only because of your sins. “Rather, you are a people being put to the test” through prosperity and adversity, good and evil, so that it may become evident whether you will desist and repent. Such was their persistent way of rejecting their prophet and responding to him.
“There were in the city”—the city where Sālih lived and where most of his people were gathered—“nine men who spread corruption throughout the land and did no good.” That is, corruption throughout the land was their defining characteristic, and they had neither any intention nor any deed aimed at reform. They had set themselves to oppose Sālih, impugn his religion, and call their people to do the same, as Allah Most High said: “So fear Allah and obey me. Do not obey the command of the transgressors, who spread corruption throughout the land and do no good.”
They persisted in this vile condition until, out of their enmity, “they swore to one another”—each swearing to the others—“We shall attack him and his family by night.” That is, we shall come upon him and his family at night and kill them. “Then we will surely tell his kinsman”—if he confronts us and accuses us of killing him, we shall deny and disavow it and swear—“We are certainly truthful.” Thus they conspired together to do so.
“They devised a plot”: they secretly planned to kill Sālih and his family, concealing it even from their own people for fear of his supporters. “And We devised a plan” by granting Our prophet Sālih, peace be upon him, victory, facilitating his affair, and destroying his people who rejected him, “while they were unaware.”
“So behold how their plot ended.” Did they achieve their objective and attain what they sought through their plot, or did the affair turn against them? Thus He said: “We destroyed them and all their people.” We annihilated them and eradicated them completely. A cry of punishment came upon them, and every last one of them perished.
“There are their houses, lying desolate”: their walls had collapsed upon their roofs, they were deserted by their inhabitants, and no one remained to dwell in them, “because of the wrong they committed.” That is the outcome of their wrongdoing, their associating partners with Allah, and their transgression throughout the land.
“Surely in that is a sign for people who know”—who understand realities and reflect upon Allah’s dealings with His allies and His enemies. They thereby take heed and know that the outcome of wrongdoing is ruin and destruction, while the outcome of faith and justice is deliverance and triumph.
Thus He said: “And We saved those who believed and were mindful of Allah.” That is, We saved those who believed in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree—both its good and its evil—who guarded themselves against associating partners with Allah and committing sins, and who obeyed Him and His messengers.
(54–58) “And mention Lot, when he said to his people, ‘Do you commit this shameful deed while seeing what you do?’”—to the end of the account.
That is: Remember Our servant and messenger Lot and his noble account, when, calling to Allah and offering sincere counsel, he said ⦗607⦘ to his people: “Do you commit this shameful deed?”—the heinous act that sound minds and natural dispositions find abhorrent and revealed laws condemn—“while seeing what you do?” You see it and know its ugliness, yet you obstinately commit it, wronging yourselves and acting brazenly toward Allah.
He then explained that shameful deed, saying: “Do you indeed approach men with desire instead of women?” That is: How did you come to such a state that your desire became directed toward men, whose rear passages are the outlet for feces, excrement, and filth, while you abandoned the wholesome relations Allah created for you with women, toward which human nature is innately inclined? The matter became inverted for you, so that you regarded the ugly as beautiful and the beautiful as ugly. “Rather, you are a people who act ignorantly” (1)—overstepping Allah’s limits and brazenly violating His prohibitions.