ﲬ ﲭ ﲮ ﲯ ﲰ ﲱ ﲲ ﲳ ﲴ ﲵ ﲶ ﲷ ﲸ ﲹ ﲺ ﲻ ﲼ
And [We destroyed] 'Aad and Thamud, and it has become clear to you from their [ruined] dwellings. And Satan had made pleasing to them their deeds and averted them from the path, and they were endowed with perception.
Tafsir
Verse range: 29:38
'Ad and Thamud are in the accusative case (mansūb) due to an implied verb indicated by what precedes them, namely His saying, "Then the earthquake seized them," meaning: "And We destroyed 'Ad and Thamud."
His saying, "And [it has become] clear to you from their dwellings," is a conjunction linked to that implied [verb/clause], meaning: The destruction we brought upon them has become perfectly clear to you from their dwellings, or because of them, and this is by looking at them when you pass by them while traveling to and from the Levant. It is possible that "from" (min) denotes partitive meaning.
It has been said that they are in the accusative case due to an implied "remember," meaning: "And remember 'Ad and Thamud," and the intent is to remember their story. Or [due to] the implied "remember," addressing the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and the sentence "it has become clear" is a circumstantial clause (ḥāliyyah). It has also been said that it is based on an implied act of speaking, meaning: "And say: It has become clear," and it is permissible that it is a conjunction linked to a sentence within the scope of what is said, meaning: "Remember 'Ad and Thamud, saying: You have passed by their dwellings and it has become clear to you," etc.
The subject of "become clear" (tabayyana) is the destruction indicated by the discourse, or "their dwellings" [is the subject], treating "from" (min) as an augment (zā'idah) in an obligatory context, which is supported by the recitation of Al-A'mash: "Their dwellings" (masākinuhum) in the nominative case without "from" (min). As for "from" (min) being the subject on the basis that it is a noun meaning "some," its status is obvious [i.e., it is weak].
It has been said that they are in the accusative case as a conjunction linked to the pronoun in "Then the earthquake seized them," but the meaning rejects this. Al-Kisa'i said: They are in the accusative case as a conjunction linked to "those" (alladhīna) in His saying, "And We have already tried those before them," and it is as you see [i.e., weak]. Az-Zamakhshari mentioned no other [governor] for their accusative status other than what we mentioned first, and it is the one that should be relied upon.
Most of the seven [reciters] read "Thamūdan" (ثمودا) with nunation, interpreting it as the clan/people, whereas the reading of omitting nunation is interpreted as the tribe. Ibn Waththab read "And 'Ad and Thamud" (وعاد وثمود) in the genitive case (khafḍ) for both, with nunation, as a conjunction linked to "Madyan" based on what is in Al-Baḥr, meaning: "And We sent to 'Ad and Thamud."
"And Satan made their deeds fair-seeming to them" by his whispering and misleading them; "their deeds" being their ugly [acts] of disbelief and disobedience. "And he hindered them from the path," meaning the known way, which is the straight path leading to the truth. Interpreting it as encompassing all paths—restricting it to the one leading to salvation—is forced.
"And they were," meaning 'Ad and Thamud, not the people of Mecca as some have imagined, "endowed with insight (mustabṣirīn)," meaning rational, capable of distinguishing between truth and falsehood through reasoning and observation, but they neglected and did not contemplate.
It has been said: [They were] rational, knowing the truth, but they disbelieved out of stubbornness and denial. It has also been said: [They were] aware that punishment would befall them through the information provided by the Messengers—peace be upon them—but they persisted until they encountered what they encountered.
From Qatadah and Al-Kalbi, as in Majma' al-Bayan, the meaning is: They were endowed with insight in their own estimation regarding the misguidance they were upon, thinking they were rightly guided. Ibn al-Mundhir and a group narrated from Qatadah that he said: Meaning, impressed with their own misguidance. This is an interpretation of the essence of what was mentioned, and it is narrated, as in Al-Baḥr, from Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, and Ad-Dahhak. The sentence is in the position of a circumstantial clause (ḥāl), with an implied "qad" or without it.
