Surah Hud (11) — Ayah 61

(Ayah 61) ➊ { وَ اِلٰى ثَمُوْدَ اَخَاهُمْ صٰلِحًا :} The people of Thamud lived in the region of Hijr (with a kasrah on the letter Ha). This place stretched from Hijaz to Wadi al-Qura between Hijaz and Syria. Nowadays, this area is between Madinah and Tabuk, where the houses carved into the mountains by those people, in which they used to live, still exist, and this area is called Mada’in Salih. The tribe of Salih (peace be upon him) was an Arab tribe. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by here while going towards Tabuk (Syria). It is narrated from Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was in (the valley of) Hijr, so he said: [ لاَ تَدْخُلُوْا عَلٰی هٰؤُلاَءِ الْقَوْمِ الْمُعَذَّبِيْنَ أَصْحَابِ الْحِجْرِ إِلاَّ أَنْ تَكُوْنُوْا بَاكِيْنَ ، فَإِنْ لَّمْ تَكُوْنُوْا بَاكِيْنَ فَلاَ تَدْخُلُوْا عَلَيْهِمْ أَنْ يُّصِيْبَكُمْ مَا أَصَابَهُمْ ] “Do not enter upon the people who were punished, that is, the people of Hijr, except in a state that you are weeping. If you do not feel like weeping, then do not enter upon them, lest the same punishment that befell them should befall you.” [ مسند أحمد : 58/2، ح : ۵۲۲۴، و صححہ شعیب الأرنؤوط و الألبانی ] The story of the people of Thamud is also mentioned in Surah Al-A’raf, Ash-Shu’ara, An-Nahl, and Al-Qamar, etc. The meaning of {’’ اَخَاهُمْ صٰلِحًا ‘‘} is that he was a member of that tribe, therefore he was their well-wisher, understood their temperaments, and had lived among them for a long time.

➋ { قَالَ يٰقَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللّٰهَ …:} His call was also the same call to Tawheed (monotheism) that was the call of all the Prophets.

➌ The meaning of {هُوَ اَنْشَاَكُمْ مِّنَ الْاَرْضِ …: ’’ اِنْشَاءٌ‘‘ } is to create something new. {’’ اسْتَعْمَرَكُمْ ‘‘ ’’ عَمَرَ يَعْمُرُ ‘‘} means to settle a place; in Surah Ar-Rum it is said: «{ وَ عَمَرُوْهَاۤ اَكْثَرَ مِمَّا عَمَرُوْهَا }» [ الروم : ۹ ] “And they populated it more than they populated it.” {’’ أَعْمَرَ يُعْمِرُ ‘‘} in the If'aal form means to settle someone in a place. In {’’ اِسْتَعْمَرَ ‘‘ }, there are extra letters, meaning to settle someone well in a place. Salih (peace be upon him) with these words was giving them the proof of Allah’s oneness and that He alone is the true deity, that He alone created you from the earth, He alone made the earth, He alone produced everything you need from the earth, He settled you well on His earth, granted you the ability and intellect to carve mountains, granted you highly developed agriculture and its means, fertile land, and springs. See Surah Ash-Shu’ara (141 to 150). Whatever ingratitude and shirk you have committed with Him until now, seek forgiveness for it and bring faith in Him, and for the future, repent to Him from disbelief and shirk. Along with this, to give them hope that the door of Allah’s mercy is open, two attributes of the Lord Almighty were mentioned: that He is {’’قَرِيْبٌ ‘‘} and also {’’ مُجِيْبٌ ‘‘ }. Whoever calls upon Him does not need any intermediary. Whether he calls softly or loudly, alone or in a gathering, my Lord is both near and responsive. When no one else possesses these qualities except Him, then why worship anyone else?

61. 1 وَ اِلَیٰ ثَمُوْدَ is connected to what came before. That is, وَ اَرْسَلنَا اِلَیٰ ثُمُوْدَ — We sent to Thamud. This nation resided in Mada'in (Hijr) between Tabuk and Madinah, and this nation came after 'Ad. Here, Prophet Salih ؑ is also called the brother of Thamud, meaning a member of their own family and tribe.

61. 2 Prophet Salih ؑ also first invited his people to Tawheed, just as has been the way of the Prophets.

61. 3 That is, in the beginning, He created you from the earth in such a way that your father Adam ؑ was created from clay, and all humans were born from the loins of Adam ؑ, thus it is as if the birth of all humans is from the earth. Or it means that whatever you eat is all produced from the earth, and from this food the sperm is formed, which, after entering the mother's womb, becomes the cause of human existence.

61. 4 That is, He created within you the ability and capacity to settle and populate the earth, by which you build houses for residence, do farming for food, and use industry and crafts to provide for other necessities of life.

61. And to Thamud We sent their brother Salih. He said, “O my people! Worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. He created you from the earth [70] and settled you in it. So seek His forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance [71]. Surely, my Lord is near, responsive (to prayers) [72].”

[70] That is, first He created Adam (peace be upon him) from clay, then He made all your necessities of life dependent on this earth, and arranged for your settlement upon it.

[71] That is, all these things have been done by Allah; tell me, which of these things have your deities done, whom you worship? If you accept Allah as the Creator and Sustainer, then you should turn only to Allah, obey only Him, and seek forgiveness for your sins only from Him, because you have been committing these acts of polytheism.

[72]
Allah Hears and Accepts Even the Prayers of Sinners:

The worldly and fame-seeking custodians of religion have firmly established this belief in the minds of common people that just as, to present a petition to a king, one needs the help of those close to the king, and only through them can one present requests to the king, and whatever reply the king gives can also be received through these people—so is the case with the Greatest King, Allah Almighty. Therefore, to present one's requests before Allah, it is necessary to seek the means of those close to Allah, and by these "close ones" they mean their own selves, false deities, or deceased saints, etc., of whom they are caretakers. This satanic belief is so misleading that countless forms of polytheism arise from this one belief. Allah Almighty has refuted this belief of the polytheists in just two words: firstly, that Allah is near to every person, He can hear everyone and does hear them; secondly, that He accepts the prayers of sinners just as He accepts those of the close ones, provided that the etiquette of supplication is observed. It should be clear that asking a pious person to pray to Allah on one's behalf does not fall under this and is established by Shariah. The corruption arises when the belief is held that Allah does not listen to or accept the words of sinners, and then those who are made intermediaries are given vows and offerings and honored in the same way as is due to Allah. According to the above meaning, in this sentence, "Near" and "Responsive" are two separate attributes of Allah Almighty, but some people have considered "Near" to be an attribute of "Responsive." In that case, the translation would be: "Indeed, my Lord is surely the One Who quickly accepts (prayers)."