أَتُتْرَكُونَ فِى مَا هَٰهُنَآ ءَامِنِينَ · فِى جَنَّٰتٍ وَعُيُونٍ · وَزُرُوعٍ وَنَخْلٍ طَلْعُهَا هَضِيمٌ · وَتَنْحِتُونَ مِنَ ٱلْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا فَٰرِهِينَ · فَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ · وَلَا تُطِيعُوٓا۟ أَمْرَ ٱلْمُسْرِفِينَ · ٱلَّذِينَ يُفْسِدُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا يُصْلِحُونَ
A-tutrakūna fī mā hāhunā āminīn · Fī jannātin wa ʿuyūn · Wa zurūʿin wa nakhlin ṭalʿuhā haḍīm · Wa tanḥitūna mina'l-jibāli buyūtan fārihīn · Fa'ttaqū'llāha wa aṭīʿūn · Wa lā tuṭīʿū amra'l-musrifīn · Alladhīna yufsidūna fi'l-arḍi wa lā yuṣliḥūn
"Will you be left secure in what is here — · in gardens and springs, · in fields and palm trees with their laden spathes? · And you carve houses out of the mountains with skill. · So guard yourselves against God and obey me. · And do not obey the command of those who exceed all measure — · who spread corruption in the earth and do not set it right."
And the verb is passive: tutrakūna — "will you be left?" By whom they will be left is not said. The question, that is, looks not to the act of an agent but to a state.
And a point of word order must be recorded: the question opens with a- and is a question of denial (istifhām inkārī) — it expects no answer; it seeks to draw a "no".
فِى مَا هَٰهُنَآ — word for word: "in the midst of what is here." هَٰهُنَا — "here" (a demonstrative of near place).
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the vagueness of the expression: the verse does not say "in your possessions" or "in your land". It says "in the midst of what is here" — and then enumerates. The question first names a general feeling of security, then sets out the things that feeling rests on.
And an overlap within the sūra must be recorded: the same root is the attribute by which Ṣāliḥ introduces himself — innī lakum rasūlun amīn (143). Three verses lie between the two.
The same root, two different directions: one who gives security, and those who suppose themselves secure. This is an overlap that can be verified from the text; what it means is interpretation.
The first two are the same as those given to the people of ʿĀd (134). Two more are added for Thamūd: crops and dates — that is, agriculture.
طَلْع — the first bud the palm tree puts out, the cluster while still in its sheath. The word occurs in several places in the Qurʾān (al-Anʿām 6/99; Qāf 50/10 — treated in Qāf).
هَضِيم — root ه-ض-م: to soften, to be crushed, to digest (haḍm is from the same root). The renderings transmitted for haḍīm:
| Rendering | Ground |
|---|---|
| Soft, tender | The root's sense of "softening" |
| Layered, dense, full | A cluster grown into itself from the abundance of fruit |
| Drooping with its weight | A cluster bending because it is full |
All three are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. What the three have in common: fruitfulness and ripeness.
I record this as an observation: the verse names the palm not as a tree but by the state of its fruit. What is counted, that is, is not property but what the property yields.
And the verb must be recorded: the structure is not built, it is carved. These are two different works: to build is to set stone upon stone, to carve is to make by taking away from existing rock.
And the verse recorded at al-Fajr 89/9 attaches here: wa Thamūda'lladhīna jābū'ṣ-ṣakhra bi'l-wād — "and Thamūd, who hollowed the rocks in the valley". The same people, the same work, two different verbs (naḥata and jāba). This is an overlap that can be verified from the text.
| Reading | Sense | The sentence's meaning |
|---|---|---|
| With skill, skilfully | Fārih — expert, skilled | "You carve houses with skill" — it describes the skill |
| Exultantly, boastfully | Fārih — grown insolent from ease | "You carve houses exultantly" — it describes the attitude |
Both readings are transmitted, and the root of the word admits of both. Among the variant readings the reading fariḥīn is also transmitted, and it brings forward the sense of "joy, insolence". I do not impose a preference.
And I record an observation: both senses do work in the same list. If the sense of skill is taken, the verse takes as its subject not the craftsmanship but what the craftsmanship is spent on — because immediately after comes "guard yourselves against God". If the sense of insolence is taken, the verse takes the attitude directly as its subject.
| ʿĀd — 128-129 | Thamūd — 149 | |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | Tabnūna (building), tattakhidhūna (taking) | Tanḥitūna (carving) |
| Object | Āyatan (a marker), maṣāniʿa (strongholds) | Buyūtan (houses) |
| Quality | Taʿbathūn (to no purpose), takhludūn (abiding for ever) | Fārihīn (with skill / exultantly) |
| Material | What is made | The mountain |
Both peoples are named by their buildings, and in both what is criticised is not the building itself but the meaning loaded onto it. This is an overlap that can be verified from the text.
And as was recorded in al-Burūj and al-Fajr, the Qurʾān often names these two peoples side by side. Al-Shuʿarāʾ keeps the same order: ʿĀd (123-140), then Thamūd (141-159).
And here a prohibition is set opposite the command wa aṭīʿūn ("obey me") repeated in the five accounts: wa lā tuṭīʿū amra'l-musrifīn.
| Verse | Expression | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| 150 | Wa aṭīʿūn | The messenger — a command |
| 151 | Wa lā tuṭīʿū amra'l-musrifīn | Those who exceed all measure — a prohibition |
This is an overlap that can be verified from the text, and among the five accounts it is present only with Ṣāliḥ.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the adjacency of the two verses: the call does not only say "obey me"; it also says whose command is not to be obeyed. Obedience does not stand in a void — one direction is chosen, the other left.
The root س-ر-ف: to overstep the bound, to lose the measure. Isrāf means passing the limit not only in spending but in every field. The root was treated in Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) and at al-Zukhruf 43/5 (an kuntum qawman musrifīn).
And the word amr must be recorded: the prohibition is set not on the persons but on their command: lā tuṭīʿū amra'l-musrifīn. The matter, that is, is not the identity of the persons but the instruction they give.
And the question of who the musrifīn are is answered in the next verse by a description. This accords with the principle of the sūra (recorded in the section on 26/10-11): the judgement is built not on identity but on attribute.
The root ف-س-د: the breakdown of a thing's order, its becoming useless. The root ص-ل-ح: to become sound, to become fit and useful. The two roots are constantly set against one another in the Qurʾān.
The transmitted explanation: the second clause is not a repetition of the first. The first clause says what is done, the second what is not done. The description, that is, has two wings: to corrupt and not to set right.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the second clause has been added: yufsidūn alone would have sufficed. The added clause sets down, beside corrupting, a separate note of failing to set right. A corrupter's defending himself with "I am not doing anything" is met by the second wing of the verse.