Surah Hud 11:58
ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ ﲑ ﲒ ﲓ ﲔ ﲕ ﲖ
And when Our command came, We saved Hud and those who believed with him, by mercy from Us; and We saved them from a harsh punishment.
Tafsir of Hud 11:58
Tafsir
Ruh al-Ma'ani
Verse range: 11:58
And when Our command came (Meaning: Our punishment descended. The "command" here is one of the matters; it has been said it refers to the "thing commanded," and in expressing it as such—attributed to His pronoun, may His Majesty be glorified, and in expressing its descent as "coming"—there is a magnificence and terror that is not hidden. It is also permitted that it be one of the orders, meaning: Our order for punishment arrived, and the speech is literal if it refers to the ordering of the angels, upon them be peace. It is also possible that this is a metaphor for occurrence by way of representation.)
We saved Hud and those who believed with him (It is said: They were four thousand, and it is said: three thousand. Perhaps the victory for the prophets, upon them be peace, is something the believers were permitted to partake in at that time, so it does not contradict what was previously cited: that he, upon him be peace, was alone. This is why his confronting the vast multitude was considered a miracle for him, peace and blessings be upon him. However, this requires evidence, such as the claim of his isolation from them during the disputation. In the *Shahabiyyah* marginalia, it is stated that there is no impediment to that when considering two different states and two different times, so reflect upon this. The apparent meaning is that the disputation occurred at the beginning of the call, while the coming of the command was much later, and the faith of those who believed occurred in the interim; thus, the contradiction is removed.)
By a mercy (A great one, originating from Us, which is the faith that We bestowed upon them as a grace.)
It has been narrated from Ibn Abbas and al-Hasan, and al-Zamakhshari mentioned it, though some perceived a scent of Mu'tazilism in it and paid it no heed. There is no harm in interpreting "mercy" as "bounty," which implies that this was by the sheer grace of Allah—for He, be He glorified, has the right to punish the obedient just as He has the right to reward the disobedient. The first prepositional phrase is connected to "We saved," which is the apparent meaning held by many of the exegetes.
Abu Hayyan permitted it to be connected to "believed," meaning: their faith in Allah and His Messenger, upon him be peace, was by a mercy from Allah, as He granted them success toward it. Perhaps the ordering of the salvation following the descent is based on what it contains of the punishment of the disbelievers; thus, the salvation is stated explicitly out of concern, and it is ordered relative to the other as an indication that it is intended. It is possible that "when" (lamma) is merely for timing.
And We saved them from a harsh punishment (This is a repetition for the sake of clarifying what He saved them from, which is the wind that would carry the camel-litter, demolish dwellings, enter the nostrils of the enemies of Allah, and exit through their backsides, tearing them piece by piece. Or, the intent is salvation from the punishment of the Hereafter, and the former is salvation from the punishment of the world. The first is preferred because it is more consistent with the requirements of the context. The summary is: the first is an announcement that the faith they were granted success in became the cause of their salvation, and the second is that this salvation was from such and such a punishment, an indication of the perfection of grace and an incitement to faith. This is not in the style of "Zaid pleased me, and his generosity," as the scholar al-Tayyibi presumed.)
An objection was raised against the second interpretation: that their salvation from the punishment of the Hereafter is not at the time the punishment descends in this world, nor is it caused by it, unless it is answered that it is a conjunction following both the constraint and the constrained, as was said regarding His saying: "They will not remain behind for an hour, nor will they precede it." It is said: The affectation here is not hidden, and there is no necessity for it, because what is consistent with expressing it in the past tense—which implies its certainty, as if it had already occurred—is to treat it, by way of metaphor, as occurring at the time of the descent. Or, the meaning is: We have decreed that, and it has become clear what will be theirs, because the world is a model of the Hereafter. Regardless, the intent of the "harshness" of the punishment is its intensity. It may be said regarding the first probability, in describing the punishment that was by wind: using "harshness" (which is the opposite of softness, a characteristic of wind) holds a subtlety that is not hidden. There is also in this a correspondence to their state, for they were harsh and severe.