Surah Al-Haaqqa (69) — Ayah 7

The meaning of {سَخَّرَهَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَبْعَ لَيَالٍ … : ’’ حُسُوْمًا ‘‘} according to Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) is “one after another.” (Ibn Jarir) In this case, it is derived from {’’حَسَمْتُ الدَّابَةَ‘‘} (I branded the animal one after another), meaning Allah sent that wind upon them for seven nights and eight days continuously, not stopping even for a moment. The meaning of {’’حَسَمَ يَحْسِمُ‘‘} (ض) is also “to cut off from the root.” In this case, it is the plural of {’’حَاسِمٌ ‘‘}, just as {’’شَاهِدٌ‘‘} is the plural of {’’شُهُوْدٌ‘‘}, so the meaning will be: “He sent that wind upon them for seven nights and eight days, which cut them off from the root.” {’’ حُسُوْمًا ‘‘} can also be a verbal noun, like {’’شُكُوْرٌ‘‘} and {’’كُفُوْرٌ‘‘}, in which case it will be the object for which the action is done, meaning He sent that wind upon them for seven nights and eight days to cut them off from the root. For further grammatical details, refer to the lengthy books of tafsir. {’’ صَرْعٰى ‘‘ ’’صَرِيْعٌ‘‘} is the plural, meaning thrown down, destroyed. {’’ اَعْجَازُ ‘‘ ’’عَجْزٌ وَ عِجْزٌ‘‘} is the plural, meaning the last part of something, the trunk of a tree. {’’ خَاوِيَةٍ ‘‘ ’’خَوٰي يَخْوِيْ‘‘} (ض) means to fall, to be empty.

Allah withheld rain from the people of ‘Ad for a period due to their disobedience, while they, to trouble the Prophet, kept demanding punishment again and again. When the punishment appeared in the form of a cloud and they saw it advancing towards their valleys, they became happy, thinking rain would come, but soon the punishment began, which was in the form of a strong, cold wind coming from the west, which destroyed everything. For details, see Surah Al-Ahqaf (21 to 26). After the wind blew continuously for seven nights and eight days, it stopped, and their corpses were lying as if they were hollow trunks of date palms. Not a single person remained except the believers. From this simile, it is clear that this nation had strong bodies and tall statures. In Surah Al-Ahqaf (26) and Surah Al-Fajr (8 to 10), some details of their strength and power are mentioned. It is narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ نُصِرْتُ بِالصَّبَا، وَ أُهْلِكَتْ عَادٌ بِالدَّبُوْرِ ] [ بخاري، أحادیث الأنبیاء، باب قول اللّٰہ تعالٰی: «وأما عاد…» : ۳۳۴۳۔ مسلم : ۹۰۰ ] “(On the occasion of the Trench) my help was with the Saba, the wind coming from the east, and ‘Ad was destroyed by the Dabbur, the wind coming from the west.”

7. 1. The meaning of جسم is to cut and separate, and some have interpreted حسوما as meaning consecutively. This indicates their length. The hollow, lifeless body has been likened to a hollow trunk.

7. Allah imposed that wind upon them for seven consecutive nights and eight days. If you had been there, you would have seen them lying fallen, as if they were hollow trunks of palm trees [6].

[6] These people were of strong build, powerful, and tall in stature. When Hud ؑ warned them of Allah's punishment, they said: ﴿مَنْ اَشَدُّ مِنَّا قُوَّةً﴾ (Who is stronger than us?). But when We let loose the wind upon them, they could not withstand it either. The violent and fierce wind knocked them down flat in such a way that, due to their tall stature, as soon as they fell, they were separated from their bodies. And it seemed as if lifeless and hollow trunks of date palms were lying.