Surah Al-A'raf 7:91
ﲕ ﲖ ﲗ ﲘ ﲙ ﲚ
So the earthquake seized them, and they became within their home [corpses] fallen prone.
Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:91
Tafsir
Ruh al-Ma'ani
Verse range: 7:91
{فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الرَّجْفَةُ} i.e., the earthquake, as Al-Kalbi stated. In Surah Hud, it is said: {وَأَخَذَتِ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا الصَّيْحَةُ} [Hud: 67], which is the cry of Gabriel, peace be upon him. Perhaps it was one of the precursors to the earthquake; thus, their destruction is attributed to the proximate cause at one time and to the remote cause at another. Some have said: The narrative refers to two different events, for Shu'ayb, peace be upon him, was sent to two nations: the people of Madyan and the people of Al-Aykah. One was destroyed by the earthquake and the other by the cry. This [argument] would only hold if the destruction of the people of Madyan had not been by the cry. It is narrated from Qatadah that they are the ones who were destroyed by it [the cry], and that the people of Al-Aykah were destroyed by the shadow [the scorching cloud].
It has been mentioned in some reports that the people of Madyan were destroyed by the shadow and the earthquake. It is narrated from Ibn Abbas and others regarding this verse that Allah, the Exalted, opened a gate of Hell for them and sent upon them intense heat, which seized their breath. Neither shade nor water availed them. They would enter their tunnels, only to find them hotter than the outside. They went out into the wilderness, and Allah, the Exalted, sent a cloud containing a pleasant wind that shaded them. They found it cool, so they called out to one another until they gathered beneath it—their men, women, and children. He then ignited it as fire upon them, and the earth shook beneath them, so they burned just as roasted locusts burn, and they became ashes.
An objection arises regarding the destruction of all of them—women and men—based on what is narrated from Abdullah Al-Bajali, who said: "Abu Jad, Hawwaz, Hutti, Kalman, Sa'fas, and Qarashat were the kings of Madyan, and their king during the time of Shu'ayb, peace be upon him, was Kalman." When he perished on the Day of the Shadow, his daughter mourned him, saying: Kalman has demolished my pillar, his death is in the midst of the settlement; The master of the people, death came to him—a fire beneath a shadow. A fire was set upon them, their houses becoming as if crumbled. Unless one says: She was a believer and was therefore saved. It may also be said that this report has no chain of narration to be relied upon.