Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:72

The fa in fa-antaziru (so wait) is for sequence based on what preceded it. In His saying, Exalted is He, fa-anjaynahu (So We saved him), it is "eloquent" (fasihah), meaning: "What happened, happened, so We saved him."

wa-alladhina ma'ahu (and those who were with him)—meaning his followers in the religion—bi-rahmatin (with a mercy), which is great, the magnitude of which cannot be estimated, minna (from Us)—meaning from Our side. The prepositional phrase relates to an implied term that serves as an adjective for "mercy," emphasizing its grandeur, as has been mentioned more than once.

wa-qata'na dabira alladhina kadhdhabu bi-ayatina (And We cut off the last of those who denied Our signs)—a metonym for eradication. Al-dabir is the last part; meaning: We destroyed them entirely and annihilated them to the very last one. Some have cited this as proof that they had no descendants.

wa-ma kanu mu'minin (and they were not believers): This is conjoined to kadhdhabu and is included with it in the ruling of the silah (relative clause). That is, they persisted in disbelief and denial and did not desist from that at all. The benefit of this negation, according to Al-Zamakhshari, is an allusion to those among them who believed. Al-Tayyibi explained that when a believer hears that the destruction was specific to the deniers, and knows that the cause of salvation is faith, their desire for it increases and its value grows in their estimation. A counterpart to this in terms of the nobility of faith is the verse: "Those who bear the Throne..." (Qur'an 40:7). Some have said the benefit is to clarify that it was known from their state that had He, glory be to Him, not destroyed them, they would not have believed—just as He, the Exalted, said in another verse: "And We destroyed the generations before you when they did wrong, and their messengers came to them with clear proofs, and they would not have believed." It is thus like an excuse for not granting them respite or patience.

The secret of presenting the narrative of the salvation before the narrative of the destruction is known from what preceded. Their story, according to Al-Suddi, Muhammad ibn Ishaq, and others, is that 'Ad were a people who lived in Al-Ahqaf, which are sands between Oman and Hadhramaut. They had spread throughout the whole earth and conquered its people. They had idols they worshipped, which were Sada', Samud, and Al-Haba'. So Allah, the Exalted, sent Hud, peace be upon him, to them as a Prophet. He was of the most middle-ranked among them in lineage and the most superior in character. He commanded them to monotheism and to refrain from oppression, but they denied him and increased in insolence and arrogance, saying: "Who is mightier than us in power?" So Allah withheld the rain from them for three years until that strained them. People at that time, when a calamity befell them, would seek its removal from Allah, the Exalted, at His Sacred House. Both their believers and their polytheists did this. The people of Mecca at that time were the Amalekites—the children of 'Imliq ibn Lawdh ibn Sam ibn Nuh—and their leader was Mu'awiyah ibn Bakr. His mother was Khalidah from the tribe of 'Ad. So 'Ad prepared for the Sanctuary a delegation of their elite, seventy men, among whom were Qil ibn 'Anz, Laqim ibn Hazzal, Luqman ibn 'Ad the Younger, Marthad ibn Sa'd—who was concealing his Islam—and Jalhamah, the maternal uncle of Mu'awiyah ibn Bakr.

When they arrived in Mecca, they stayed with Mu'awiyah, for he was outside the Sanctuary; he lodged them and honored them as they were his maternal uncles and in-laws. They stayed with him for a month, drinking wine while two of Mu'awiyah's singing girls sang for them; one was named Wardah and the other Jaradah—they are called "the two Jaradahs" by way of dominance. When he saw their prolonged stay and their preoccupation with amusement, neglecting what they had come for, it troubled him. He said: "My in-laws and uncles are perishing, and these are in the state they are in." He was shy to speak to them, fearing they might think their stay was burdensome to him, so he complained of this to his two singing girls. They said: "Compose a poem for us to sing to them, and they will not know who said it; perhaps it will move them." He said: O Qil, woe to you, arise and lament, perhaps Allah will grant us clouds so that the land of 'Ad may be watered; for 'Ad have reached a state where they cannot even articulate speech from severe thirst; neither the old man nor the boy can hope for it; their women were well-off, but they have become widows; wild beasts come to them openly and do not fear any arrows from an 'Adite; and you are here in whatever you desire, your day and your entire night; so may your delegation be wretched, O delegation of a people, and may they never meet greeting or peace.

When they sang this, some said to others: "O people, your people only sent you to seek aid for them from the calamity that has befallen them, and you have delayed for them. So enter this Sanctuary and seek rain for your people." Marthad ibn Sa'd said: "By Allah, you will not be given rain through your supplication, but if you obey your Prophet and return to your Lord, you will be given rain." He revealed his Islam at that moment and said: 'Ad disobeyed their Messenger, and they became thirsty, the sky did not provide for them; they have an idol called Samud, and facing it are Ta' and Al-Haba'; but the Messenger showed us the path of guidance, so we saw the guidance and the blindness departed; and the God of Hud is my God, upon Allah is the reliance and the hope.

They said to Mu'awiyah: "Keep Marthad away from us and do not let him come with us to Mecca, for he has followed the religion of Hud and abandoned our religion." Then they entered Mecca to seek rain. Marthad came out of Mu'awiyah's house and reached them before they had prayed for anything they had come for. When he caught up to them, he stood and prayed to Allah, the Exalted, saying: "O Allah, my request is for myself alone, so do not include me in anything for which the delegation of 'Ad prays to You." Qil, who was the head of the delegation, prayed and said: "O Allah, give 'Ad what You used to give them." The people said: "O Allah, give Qil what he asked of You and make our request with his request." Allah, the Exalted, created three clouds—white, red, and black—then a caller from the heaven called out: "O Qil, choose for yourself and your people from these clouds what you wish." Qil said—and this is how Allah, the Exalted, acts toward those who call upon Him at that time—"I choose the black one, for it is the one with the most water." The caller called out to him: "You have chosen ashes and embers that will not leave any of the people of 'Ad remaining."

Allah, the Exalted, drove that cloud with what it contained toward 'Ad until it appeared to them from a valley called Al-Mughith. When they saw it, they rejoiced and said: "This is a cloud that will give us rain." But there came to them from it a barren wind. The first to see it was a woman among them named Mahdar; when she saw it, she clapped her hands, and when she recovered, they asked: "What did you see?" She said: "I saw a wind in which there were like embers of fire, and in front of it were men leading it." Allah, the Exalted, subjected it upon them for seven nights and eight days, unrelenting, until it did not leave any of them, but destroyed them. Hud, peace be upon him, and those with him withdrew into an enclosure, and nothing reached them of the wind except what made the skin soft and the souls feel pleasure. Later, he and those with him came to Mecca and worshipped Allah, the Exalted, there until they died. His grave, peace be upon him, is said to be there in the spot between the Corner (of the Kaaba), the Maqam (of Ibrahim), and Zamzam. There, as Ibn 'Asakir reported from 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Sabit, are the graves of seventy-nine prophets, among them also Nuh, Shu'ayb, Salih, and Isma'il, peace be upon them. Al-Bukhari in his history, Ibn Jarir, and others reported from 'Ali, may Allah honor his face, that his grave, peace be upon him, is in Hadhramaut on a red sand hill, with a lote tree at its head. Ibn 'Asakir reported from Ibn Abi al-'Atikah, saying: "The qiblah of the mosque of Damascus is the grave of Hud, peace be upon him." He lived, as Abu al-Shaykh reported from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, for four hundred and seventy-two years. And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

As for the aspect of allusion (isharah) in the verses—according to what the people, may Allah be pleased with them, have said: Inna rabbakum Allahu alladhi khalaqa al-samawati (Indeed, your Lord is Allah who created the heavens)—meaning the heavens of the spirits—wa-al-arda (and the earth)—meaning the earth of the bodies—fi sittati ayyam (in six days). These are six thousand years, and "a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you count." They are from the time Adam, peace be upon him, was created until the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. In reality, they are from the beginning of the cycle of the Caliphs until the beginning of the manifestation which is the time of the sealing of Prophethood and the emergence of Sainthood. Thumma istawa 'ala al-'arsh (Then He ascended the Throne)—which is the Muhammadan heart—by complete manifestation, which is the manifestation of His, the Exalted's, name that encompasses all attributes. The Sufis have various [interpretations of] the Thrones, which we have pointed out in our book Al-Tiraz al-Mudhahhab fi Sharh Qasidat al-Baz al-Ashhab, and the complete discussion of them is in Shams al-Ma'arif by the Imam Al-Buni, may his secret be sanctified. Yughshi al-layla (He covers the night)—meaning the night of the body—al-nahara (the day)—meaning the day of the spirit—yatlubuhu (it pursues it) by preparing and readiness to accept it through the moderation of its temperament, hathitha (rapidly)—meaning quickly. Wa-al-shamsu (And the sun)—meaning the sun of the spirit—wa-al-qamaru (and the moon)—meaning the moon of the heart—wa-al-nujumu (and the stars)—meaning the stars of the senses—musakkharatin bi-amrihi (subjected by His command), which is the "matter" mentioned in His saying, Exalted is He: "Every day He is in a matter."

Ud'u rabbakum (Call upon your Lord)—meaning worship Him—tadaru'an wa-khufyatan (humbly and in secret)—a reference to the path of disclosure and seclusion, or call upon Him with the limbs and the heart, or by performing the right of servitude and the requirements of the right of Lordship. Innahu la yuhibbu al-mu'tadin (Indeed, He does not like the transgressors)—those who exceed what they were commanded by abandoning obedience, or those who seek from Him other than Him. Wa-la tufsidu fi al-ardi (And do not cause corruption on the earth)—meaning the earth of the body—ba'da islahiha (after its reformation) through readiness. Wa-ud'uhu khawfan wa-tama'an (And call upon Him in fear and aspiration), so as not to necessitate the neglect of either the attribute of Majesty or the attribute of Beauty. Wa-huwa alladhi yursilu al-riyaha (And it is He who sends the winds)—meaning the winds of divine care—bayna yaday rahmatihi (before His mercy), meaning His manifestations, until when they aqallat (have lifted) sahaban thiqalan (heavy clouds) with the rains of love, suqnahu li-baladin mayyitin (We drive it to a dead land)—the land of the heart—fa-anzalna bihi al-ma'a (then We send down therein water)—the water of love—fa-akhrajna bihi min kulli al-thamarati (then We bring forth thereby from all the fruits)—from the observations and the unveilings. Kadhalika nukhriju al-mawta (Thus do We bring forth the dead)—the dead hearts—min qubur al-sudur (from the graves of the breasts)—la'allakum tadhakkaran (that you might remember) the days of your life in the world of spirits, where you were in the gardens of sanctity and the basins of intimacy. The "good land," which is that whose readiness is good, "brings forth its vegetation by the permission of its Lord" in a beautiful way, its benefit abundant. And that which is corrupt—which is that whose readiness is evil—"does not bring forth except sparingly," with no goodness in it. Laqad arsalna Nuhan (We certainly sent Nuh)—meaning the Nuh of the spirit—ila qawmihi (to his people)—the heart and its assistants, and the soul and its assistants—fa-kadhdhabuhu fa-anjaynahu wa-alladhina ma'ahu (but they denied him, so We saved him and those with him)—the heart and its assistants—fi al-fulki (in the Ark), which is the ship of following. Wa-aghraqna alladhina kadhdhabu bi-ayatina (And We drowned those who denied Our signs) in the seas of the world and the waters of desires. Innahum kanu qawman 'amin (Indeed, they were a blind people) to the path of arrival and the vision of Allah, the Exalted. On this pattern, speech is woven regarding the rest of the verses. Our Master, the Great Sheikh, may his secret be sanctified, has words regarding these people and their like that cause thoughts to stand before them exhausted; whoever desires them, let him return to the Fusus, for he will see the wondrous of the wondrous. And Allah, the Exalted, is the Guide to the path of rectitude.