| Al-Haqqah: (5) As for Thamud, they were destroyed...

Know that there are several opinions regarding Al-Taghiyah (the overwhelming/transgressing [event/thing]):

The First Opinion: Al-Taghiyah refers to the calamity that exceeded the limit in severity and power. Allah says: {Indeed, when the water transgressed} (Al-Haqqah: 1), meaning it exceeded the limit. He also says: {His gaze did not swerve, nor did it transgress} (An-Najm: 17).

According to this view, Al-Taghiyah is an adjective for an omitted noun. They differed concerning this omitted noun:

1. Some said it is the shout (ṣayḥah) that exceeded in power and severity compared to other shouts. Allah says: {Indeed, We sent against them a single shout, and they became like the dry sweepings of a pen-enclosure} (Al-Qamar: 31).
2. Others said it is the tremor (rajfah).
3. Still others said it is the thunderbolt (ṣā‘iqah).

The Second Opinion: Al-Taghiyah here means transgression (ṭughyān) itself. It is a verbal noun (maṣdar), like al-kādhibah (the lie), al-bāqiyah (the remainder), al-‘āqibah (the consequence), and al-‘āfiyah (well-being). This means: They were destroyed due to their transgression against Allah, as they denied His Messengers and disbelieved in Him. This view is narrated from Ibn Abbas.

Later scholars criticized this view on two grounds:

1. As Al-Zajjaj stated: Since the second clause specifies the type of punishment that afflicted them—His saying {with a furious, strong wind} (Al-Haqqah: 6)—the condition in the first clause must also specify the type of affliction to maintain coherence.
2. As Al-Qadi stated: If what they meant was intended, the proper structure of the speech would have been to say: "They were destroyed because of it (lahā) and for its sake (la-ajlihā)."

The Third Opinion: {with Al-Taghiyah} means with the transgressing group (al-firqah allatī ṭaghat) from among the Thamud. They conspired to hamstring the she-camel, and they hamstrung her. Thus, they were destroyed by the ill omen of their transgressing faction. It is also possible that Al-Taghiyah refers to that single man who dared to hamstring the she-camel, leading to the destruction of everyone, because they consented to his action. He was called Tāghiyah (the transgressor), just as one says fülān rāwiyat al-shi‘r (so-and-so is the narrator of poetry), or dāhiyah (a genius/calamity), or ‘allāmah (a great scholar), or nasāb (a genealogist).

! 7 < { And as for ʿĀd, they were destroyed by a furious, strong wind. } > 7 !

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