Salaam and welcome our Friday special “The Path towards Enlightenment” in which present you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of the Revealed Word of God Almighty – the holy Qur’an.

We start from where we left you last week and here are ayahs 45 to 47 of Surah Naml:

وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَىٰ ثَمُودَ أَخَاهُمْ صَالِحًا أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّـهَ فَإِذَا هُمْ فَرِيقَانِ يَخْتَصِمُونَ

قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ لِمَ تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ قَبْلَ الْحَسَنَةِ ۖ لَوْلَا تَسْتَغْفِرُونَ اللَّـهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

قَالُوا اطَّيَّرْنَا بِكَ وَبِمَن مَّعَكَ ۚ قَالَ طَائِرُكُمْ عِندَ اللَّـهِ ۖ بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ تُفْتَنُونَ

“Certainly We sent to Thamoud Ṣaleḥ, their brother, [with the summons:] ‘Worship Allah!’ But thereat they became two groups contending with each other.”

“He said, ‘O My people! Why do you press for evil sooner than for good? Why do you not plead to Allah for forgiveness so that you may receive His mercy?”

“They said, ‘We take for a bad omen you and those who are with you.’ He said, ‘Your bad omens are with Allah. Rather you are a people being tested.”

Here God Almighty draws our attention to the account of Prophet Saleh who was sent to the rebellious nation of Thamoud that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula, and the centre of his mission was in northern Hijaz, in the region known today as Mada’en Saleh. He called on the people to revert to monotheism and the worship of the One and Only God, instead of the multitude of deities they had crafted for worship. Those with conscience heeded his words and reverted to monotheism, while others, especially the upper class which had vested interests, rejected and ridiculed him. The two groups, that is, the good and the bad, contended with each other. Prophet Saleh continued to urge the misled people to open up their hearts and minds to the manifest truth by differentiating between good and evil. He advised them to give up their wicked ways, and to seek forgiveness from the Lord Most High, Who is indeed Merciful for the penitents. He told them not to crave for divine punishment, however mockingly. He meant to say that why instead of repenting and availing of divine mercy, which is the source of proper progress and prosperity, they were insisting on punishment without realizing that the wrath of God would annihilate them!

Throughout history, the unbelievers instead of heeding the warning of Prophets, tried to blame them or even kill them, for the divine tests and tribulations that they were subjected to, such as drought and other disasters, which they said were bad omen because of the presence in their midst of the monotheists, who shun the worship of idols. In response, Saleh said that everything is from God Almighty, Who tests you with such disasters, which are actually the result of your evil deeds and sinful ways, rather than the presence of any particular group in your midst.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The gist of the message of all Prophets was invitation to monotheism and abstaining from sins.
2. The obstacles in the path of the message of peace of the Prophets were always the hardcore polytheists and sinners, who refused to see the realities, even if some people among them repented and turned to God.
3. The infidels indulge in superstitions and irrational ways, believing in bad or good omens, in contrast to the logic of the monotheists and the morally upright persons, who have firm faith in God Almighty and are resigned to His Will.

Now we listen to ayahs 48 and 49 of Surah Naml:

وَكَانَ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ تِسْعَةُ رَهْطٍ يُفْسِدُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا يُصْلِحُونَ

قَالُوا تَقَاسَمُوا بِاللَّـهِ لَنُبَيِّتَنَّهُ وَأَهْلَهُ ثُمَّ لَنَقُولَنَّ لِوَلِيِّهِ مَا شَهِدْنَا مَهْلِكَ أَهْلِهِ وَإِنَّا لَصَادِقُونَ

“There were nine persons in the city who caused corruption in the land, and did not bring about any reform.”

“They said, ‘[Let us] swear together by Allah that we will attack him and his family by night. Then we will surely tell his heir that we were not present at the murder of his family and we indeed speak the truth.”

These ayahs refer to the plot of a villainous group of nine persons who were immersed in sins and wanted to kill Prophet Saleh and his companions because they viewed them as obstacles to their freewheeling ways. These rogues who never thought of any reforms and promoted corruption in society, got together and swore to mount a stealth attack on Prophet Saleh and his family in the dead of night, and then lay the blame on others, by claiming they were not present. It is worth noting that despite their indulgence in idolatry and sins, they all swore by God, since this misled lot used to believe that although God has created them He has left them free to do whatever they want without the need for Prophets to guide them. This is exactly the belief of the so-called intellectuals of our own times, who do not deny that God created them, but they follow their whims and carnal desires by claiming that as humans they are free to do whatever they like.

The plot to kill Saleh reminds us of the conspiracy of the pagan Arabs against Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and their selection of a person from every clan of Mecca for committing the foul deed, so that his heirs won’t be able to avenge his blood since they would have to fight all the tribes. God Almighty, however, saved His and Last and Greatest Messenger by commanding him to migrate to Medina in the dead of night. The Prophet did so, and on divine commandment asked his valiant young cousin, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) to sleep on his bed that night so that until the break of dawn he would have ample time to be out of harm’s way.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The opponents of Prophets, Imams, Saints, and God-oriented leaders, are never the people of logic and reasoning.
2. A glaring example is the martyrdom of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), while in prayer in the Mosque of Kufa, by the Kharejite or renegade Abdur-Rahman ibn Muljam, who violated the sanctity of the symbolic house of God on the assumption of attaining proximity to God.

FK/AS/SS