Surah Al-Qamar, Ayah 20

The Story of ` Ad Allah states that ` Ad, the People of Hud, denied their Messenger, just as the people of Nuh did.

So, Allah sent on them,

عَلَيْهِمْ رِيحاً صَرْصَراً

(against them a violently cold (Sarsar) wind), means, a bitterly cold and furious wind,

فِى يَوْمِ نَحْسٍ

(on a day of calamity), against them, according to Ad-Dahhak, Qatadah and As-Suddi,

مُّسْتَمِرٌّ

(continuous), upon them because the calamity, torment and destruction that they suffered in this life on that day continued with that of the Hereafter,

تَنزِعُ النَّاسَ كَأَنَّهُمْ أَعْجَازُ نَخْلٍ مُّنقَعِرٍ

(Plucking out men as if they were uprooted stems of date palms.) The wind would pluck one of them and raise him high, until he could no longer be seen, and then violently send him down on his head to the ground. His head would be smashed and only his body would be left, headless,

كَأَنَّهُمْ أَعْجَازُ نَخْلٍ مُّنقَعِرٍفَكَيْفَ كَانَ عَذَابِى وَنُذُرِ وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرْءَانَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ

(as if they were uprooted stems of date palms. Then, how was My torment and My warnings And We have indeed made the Qur'an easy to understand and remember; then is there any that will remember)

Lexicological Analysis

The word سُعُر su'ur has appeared twice in this Surah. First it has appeared in verse 24 in connection with the people of Thamud where it is their own word, and means 'madness or insanity'. The second time, the word appears in connection with the punishment of the sinners where it is the word of Allah in the forthcoming verse [ 47] فِي ضَلَالٍ وَسُعُرٍ‌. Here the word سُعُر su'ur may also be taken in the sense of Hell-Fire. According to lexicologists, the word su'ur is used in both these senses.

رَ‌اوَدُوهُ عَن ضَيْفِهِ (And they had even tried to tempt him against his guests...54:37). The word murawadah signifies to entice someone to satisfy one's lust. This verse refers to the night when the angels came to Prophet Lut (علیہ السلام) in the shape of handsome young men, as a test from Allah for his people who were addicted to homosexuality. Prophet Lut (علیہ السلام) hosted his guests. The licentious people came to him from every direction, and the Prophet Lut (علیہ السلام) had to shut the door to protect his guests. They came during the night and tried to break the door down and scale the walls to come in. The immoral behaviour of his people distressed Prophet Lut (علیہ السلام) but when the guests revealed to him that they were angels and have been sent by Allah to inflict destructive punishment on his people, he felt comforted; they assured him that they will not be able to hurt them in any way.

The leaders of Noah’s community, consumed as they were by false prestige, were not prepared to accept Noah. The result was that they were afflicted by the retribution of God. This punishment came upon them in the shape of a terrible flood. The entire people and their dwellings were submerged in it. But, Noah and his companions, as commanded by God, boarded an ark. This vessel sailed forth and stopped at Mount Judi in the Mount Ararat range. Ararat is in Turkey. The highest mountain of the region, it rises to 16, 853 ft. Certain aeroplane pilots claim that, while flying over the snow-covered Ararat peak, they have seen some boat-like thing caught up in the snow there. If this is correct, then just as the dead body of Pharaoh (of Moses’s period) was extracted from its pyramid in the late nineteenth century and became a sign of God ( 10:92 ), similarly perhaps Noah’s ark may be discovered and become a sign of God for mankind.