بُعۡد

Important Words:

اقلعی (cease raining) is derived from قلع i.e. he displaced or uprooted. اقلع means, it (rain) left off; it cleared away. یاسماء اقلعیmeans, O sky, cease raining. اقلع عنه means, he or it left him; he abstained or desisted from it. They say أقلعت الحمی عن فلان i.e. the fever passed away or left such a one (Lane & Aqrab).

بعدا (curse) is the noun-infinitive from بعد which means, he or it was or became distant, remote, or aloof; he went or withdrew himself to a distance; he alienated; it perished. They say لا تعبد و ان بعدت عنی i.e. mayest thou not perish, though thou be distant from me. The Arabs say ابعدہ الله i.e. may God alienate him, or estrange him from good or prosperity; or may God curse him. بعد means, distance or remoteness; remoteness from probability or correctness i.e. improbability or strangeness; perdition or death; judgement and prudence; curse, execration or malediction. They say, بعدا له i.e. may he be cursed, or may God alienate him from good (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse makes it clear that water not only came out from the "fountains of the earth" (v. 41) but it also fell from the sky (i.e. the clouds) and thus both combined to deluge the land.

The mountain al-Judi is, according to Yaqut al-Hamwi, a long chain of mountains on the eastern side of the Tigris in the province of Mosul (Mu‘jam). According to Sale, "al-Judi is one of those mountains which divide Armenia on the south from Mesopotamia and that part of Assyria which is inhabited by the Curds, from whom the mountain took the name of Cardu or Gardu, but the Greeks turned it into Gordyaei...The tradition which affirms the ark to have rested on these mountains must have been very ancient, since it is the tradition of the Chaldeans themselves (Berosus, apud Joseph. Antiq.). To confirm it, we are told that the remainders of the ark were to be seen on the Gordyaean mountains. Berosus and Abydenus both declare that there was such a report in their time…The relics of the ark were also to be seen here in the time of Epiphanius and we are told the Emperor Heraclius went from the town of Thamanin up to the mountain al-Judi and saw the place of the ark. There was also formerly a famous monastery, called the monastery of the ark, upon some of these mountains where the Nestorians used to celebrate a feast-day on the spot where they supposed the ark rested; but in 776 A.D. that monastery was destroyed by lightning" (Sale, pp. 179, 180).

Again, "Judi (Djudi) is a lofty mountain mass in the district of Bohtan, about 25 miles N.E. of Jazirat ibn ‘Omar in 37°, 30΄ N. Lat…It owes its fame to the Mesopotamian tradition, which identifies it, and not Mount Ararat, with the mountain on which Noah’s ark rested. It is practically certain from a large number of Armenian and other writers that, down to the 10th century, Mt. Ararat was in no way connected with the Deluge. Ancient Armenian tradition certainly knows nothing of a mountain on which the ark rested; and when one is mentioned in later Armenian literature, this is clearly due to the gradually increasing influence of the Bible which makes the ark rest on the mountains (or a mountain) of Ararat. The highest and best known mountain there is Masik…The tradition that Masik was the mountain on which the Ark rested, only begins to find a place in Armenian literature in the 11th and 12th centuries. Older exegesis identified the mountain now called Judi, or according to Christian authorities the mountains of Gordyene, as the apobaterion of Noah (Enc. of Islam. Vol. 1, p. 1059).

Babylonian traditions also place the mount al-Judi in Armenia (Jew. Enc. under Ararat) and the Bible admits that Babylon was the place where the descendants of Noah lived (Gen. 11:9).

28:43.

Important Words:

اتبعوا (was made to follow) literally means, they were made to follow. تبعه means, he followed him. اتبعه means, he followed and overtook him. اتبعه also means, he made him follow another (Lane).

Commentary:

The word لعنة (curse) when ascribed to God means "removing to a distance" or "casting away from mercy." In this sense the first sentence of the verse would mean that God will remove or cast away disbelievers from His mercy and they will not attain His nearness nor see Him on the Day of Resurrection.

The words, the tribe of ‘Ad behaved ungratefully to their Lord, comprise an extremely touching sentence and indicate how perverse and ungrateful were the ‘Ad that they refused to listen to the voice of their رب (Lord), Who brought them into being and then nourished and sustained them. Nobility of character demanded that they should have been grateful to Him, but by rejecting His Message, they set the seal not only on their ingratitude but also on their folly, because they consigned to oblivion the patent fact that He Who gave them greatness and glory could also degrade and debase them.

10:25.

Commentary:

This verse is in substance part of the preceding verse, from which it has been separated to emphasize the greatness of the calamity that overtook the tribe of Thamud.

It is interesting to note that while in v. 61 the account of the ‘Ad concluded with the words, Behold! cursed are ‘Ad, the people of Hud, the verse under comment,, which concludes the account of the Thamud in almost identical words, simply says, Behold! cursed are the tribe of Thamud, omitting the words "the people of Salih." It would be wrong to assume that the words قوم ھود (the people of Hud) were added in v. 61 for the sake of rhyme. The Quran never adds or omits words simply for the sake of rhyme; every word added or omitted has a definite purpose. In v. 61 the words "the people of Hud" have been added to the word "‘Ad" for an historical reason, for ‘Ad is in fact the name of two tribes, the first ‘Ad and the second ‘Ad, and the words "the people of Hud" have been added to show that it is the first and not the second ‘Ad (nor in fact both ‘Ads) that are meant there. But as Thamud was the name of one tribe only, the words "the people of Salih" have been omitted, for their addition would have served no useful purpose.

7:93.

Commentary:

See 11:61, 69 above.

7:92; 11:68.

Important Words:

الصیحة (punishment) means, a loud cry; punishment, castigation, chastisement; a hostile or predatory incursion by which a tribe is surprised (Lane & Aqrab). See also 11:68.

غثاء (rubbish) is derived from غثاء (ghatha). They say غثا الوادی i.e. the valley has in it abundance of rubbish. غثت النفس i.e. the stomach heaved, or became agitated with a tendency to vomit. غثاء means, the rubbish or particles of things or refuse and scum and rotten leaves with the scum borne upon the surface of a torrent. The Arabs say ماله غثاء و عمله ھباء و سعیه خفاء i.e. his property is as rubbish borne by a torrent and his work is like motes that are seen in the rays of the sun and his labour is a thing that is unapparent. غثاء الناس means, the low and the vile and the refuse of mankind (Lane & Aqrab).

بعداً means, perdition or death; curse or malediction etc. The expression بعداله means, may he be cursed or may God alienate him from good (Lane & Aqrab). See also 11:45.

Commentary:

The verse points to a lesson to which history of religion generally and the Quran particularly draws attention, viz. that the opponents of God’s Prophets always meet with failure and destruction and believers whom they regard as the scum and dregs of humanity succeed in their mission and ultimately become the teachers and leaders of nations.

2:88; 36:31.

Important Words:

تتراً (one after another) is derived from وتر. They say وترہ i.e. he made it (a number) sole; or one and no more; he made it to be odd number. وتر الخبر means, he made the tidings to follow one part after another or to follow with a small space between every two portions thereof. تواتر means, it was consecutive, or was so with intervals or was so with interruption. وترة of the nose means the partition between the two nostrils. جاؤواتتری means, they came following one another; one after another. ثم أرسلنا رسلنا تتری means, then We sent Our Messengers one after another; or interruptedly; at intervals or making a long time to intervene between every two (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

This verse like several others shows that after a Divine Law has been revealed God continues to raise other Messengers to support, explain and establish it. After the Law of Moses was revealed God sent other Messengers who followed the Mosaic Law and exhorted the Israelites to follow it.

It appears from the Bible that there had always lived among the Israelites a number of Prophets and Reformers who explained the Torah to the Israelites. Jesus was the last of these Prophets. He himself says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled" (Matt. 5:17, 18).

The words, "We made them mere tales," signify that when the opponents of the Prophets are destroyed their destruction is so complete that generations coming after them talk of them as people who once lived on this earth, because no trace of their existence or work remains behind.

3:31.

Commentary:

When man is confronted with the evil consequences of his wicked deeds, he seeks to avoid and shun his erstwhile companions as if he never knew them. The expression بعد المشرقین which literally means "distance of two Easts" has been appropriately translated as "distance of the East and the West."