Al-Furqan: (38) And 'Ad and Thamud and the companions of...

(And 'Ad) is a conjunction linked to "the people of Noah," meaning: "And We destroyed 'Ad," or "And remember 'Ad," according to what has been said. It is not correct for it to be a conjunction if it is in the accusative case due to the construction of ishtighal (preoccupation), because they were not drowned. Abu Ishaq said: It is a conjunction linked to the pronoun "hum" in [the phrase] "Whom We have made a sign for mankind." It is also permissible for it to be a conjunction linked to the position of "the wrongdoers" (al-zalimin), as the discourse is interpreted as: "And We promised the wrongdoers." This is the end [of the quote]. Both interpretations are clearly remote.

(And Thamud)—the discussion regarding this and what follows it is the same as the discussion regarding what preceded it. Abdullah [ibn Mas'ud], 'Amr ibn Maymun, al-Hasan, and 'Isa recited "Thamuda" as non-diptote (ghayr masruf), interpreted as the [name of the] tribe. This is also narrated from Hamza, 'Asim, and the majority as being diptote (masruf). 'Abd ibn Humayd narrated it from 'Asim based on the consideration of the [word meaning] "clan" or because they were named after their greatest ancestor.

(And the companions of the Rass)—according to Ibn Abbas, they are the people of Thamud; however, the conjunction makes this remote, as it necessitates distinctness. Qatadah said: They were the people of a village in al-Yamamah called al-Rass and al-Falaj. It is said they killed their prophet and were destroyed, and they were the remainder of Thamud and the people of Salih. Ka'b, Muqatil, and al-Suddi said: They were the people of a well called al-Rass in Antioch of Syria, in which they killed the companion of Yasin, who was Habib al-Najjar.

It is said: They were a people who killed their prophet and rassuhu (pushed/buried him) into a well. Wahb and al-Kalbi said: The companions of the Rass and the companions of the Thicket (al-aykah) were two peoples to whom Shu'ayb was sent. The companions of the Rass were a people of idol worshippers who possessed wells and livestock. He invited them to Islam, but they persisted in their tyranny and in harming him, peace be upon him. While they were around the Rass—which was an unlined well, as narrated from Abu 'Ubaydah—it collapsed upon them in their village.

'Ali, may Allah honor his countenance, said—as transmitted by al-Tha'labi: They were a people who worshipped a tree called Shah Dirakht. They pushed their prophet into a well they dug for him, in a long narration. It is said: They were the companions of the prophet Hanzalah ibn Safwan. They were afflicted by the 'Anqa', which is the greatest of birds; it had every color, and it was named 'Anqa' due to the length of its neck. It lived on their mountain, which was called Fath, and it would swoop down on their children and snatch them if hunting failed it. Because it brought this strange matter, it was called Mughrib (strange/western). It is said [it was called that] because it snatched a bride; it is said because of its ghurub (disappearance/absence); it is said because its nest was at the setting of the sun (maghrib al-shams). It is called 'Anqa' Mughrib with both description and genitive construction, with the mim pronounced with damma or fatha. Hanzalah prayed against it, a thunderbolt struck it, and it perished. Then they killed Hanzalah and were [consequently] destroyed.

It is said: They were a people to whom a prophet was sent and they ate him. It is said: A people whose women were sahaqat (lesbians). It is said: A people to whom prophets were sent and they killed them and buried their bones in a well. It is said: They are the companions of the Trench (al-ukhudud), and the Rass is the trench. In a narration from Ibn Abbas, it is a well in Azerbaijan. It is said: The Rass is between Najran, Yemen, and Hadhramaut. It is said: It is water and palm trees belonging to a prophet of Asad. It is said: It is a river in the lands of the East. Allah the Exalted sent to its people a prophet from the descendants of Judah ibn Jacob. They rejected him and he remained among them for a time, then he complained to Allah the Exalted about them. They dug a well for him and pushed him into it, saying, "We hope our gods will be pleased with us." They would stand over him during their day hearing the groaning of their prophet. He prayed for his soul to be seized quickly, so he died. A black cloud overshadowed them and melted them as lead melts.

'Ikrimah and Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that the companions of the Rass took their prophet and pushed him into a well and covered it with a rock. A black slave who had believed in him would come with food to the well; Allah would assist him with that rock, and he would lift it, give him what nourished him, and then return the rock to the mouth of the well. This continued until Allah struck the ear of that black man, so he slept for fourteen years. The people of the village [later] brought out their prophet and believed in him, in a long narration in which it is mentioned that this black man is the first to enter Paradise. If this is authentic, it would be the definitive statement that cannot be disputed. However, their inclusion here poses a difficulty. Al-Tabari answered this by saying it is possible that they disbelieved after that and were destroyed, so Allah mentioned them with those who were mentioned from among the destroyed peoples.

The summary of these sayings is that they were a people whom Allah the Exalted destroyed for rejecting those who were sent to them.

(And many generations)—that is, people of generations. The discussion regarding "generation" (qarn) has preceded.

(Between that)—that is, what was mentioned of the nations. Because of the plurality [of nations], it is "between" without a conjunction. It would lengthen the discussion too much to mention them. It is not unlikely that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, knew their number. And the saying of Allah the Exalted, "And there are some among them whom We have not related to you," is not a text denying knowledge of the number, as is not hidden. In Irshad al-'Aql al-Salim, it is stated: Perhaps the sufficiency in the affairs of those generations with this general explanation is because each generation among them was not, in terms of fame and strangeness of their story, on the same level as the mentioned nations.