Do You Actually Know That Salih Is Sent? — Halaqa Circle

Do you actually know that Salih is sent from his Lord?0:00

Austin: The leaders of Thamud had a question for the believers among the people they held weak. The Qur'an keeps it in their words: “Do you actually know that Salih is sent from his Lord?”

Twelve ayat of Surah Al-A'raf: two prophets, Salih and Lut alayhimas salam, and the believers who stood with them. About 23 minutes.

Assalamu alaikum, and welcome to the IMATX halaqa.

On the call0:25

All: Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullah.

Austin: Alhamdulillah. It's good to be together again. Let us open, as we always do, with the du'a.

Opening du'a.

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا. مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ. وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ.

Al-hamdu lillah, nahmaduhu wa nasta'inuhu wa nastaghfiruh, wa na'udhu billahi min shururi anfusina wa min sayyi'ati a'malina. Man yahdihillahu fala mudilla lah, wa man yudlil fala hadiya lah. Wa ashhadu an la ilaha illallahu wahdahu la sharika lah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluh. — All praise is for Allah. We praise Him, we seek His help and we ask His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from our bad deeds. Whomever Allah guides, no one can lead astray, and whomever He leaves astray, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي، وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي، وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِنْ لِسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي.

Rabbishrah li sadri, wa yassir li amri, wahlul 'uqdatan min lisani, yafqahu qawli. — My Lord, expand for me my breast, and ease for me my task, and untie the knot from my tongue, that they may understand my speech.

اللَّهُمَّ انْفَعْنَا بِمَا عَلَّمْتَنَا، وَعَلِّمْنَا مَا يَنْفَعُنَا، وَزِدْنَا عِلْمًا.

Allahumma infa'na bima 'allamtana, wa 'allimna ma yanfa'una, wa zidna 'ilma. — O Allah, benefit us by what You have taught us, teach us what will benefit us, and increase us in knowledge.

Austin: We praised Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, asked His help and His forgiveness, and bore witness to Him and to His Messenger. Then, in the words of Musa alayhis salam: open our hearts, ease our task, and loosen our tongues, so that people understand what we say. For us tonight, that is speaking clearly, and taking in what we hear. And we asked Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make what we learn here benefit us, and to add to our knowledge.

All: Ameen.

Where we are1:46

Austin: The previous passage told of Nuh and Hud alayhimas salam. Salih alayhis salam comes next, to Thamud, and he opens with the call they both made, in the same words: O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. Even his reminder, remember when He made you successors, is what Hud alayhis salam said to 'Ad at ayah sixty-nine.

So the shape of this story is familiar. What's new is what the people with power do to the believers among them.

Then a second story, Lut alayhis salam. We'll take it a few ayat at a time, and keep our questions for the end.

Ayah 73 - The call and the sign2:22

Austin: Salih alayhis salam comes to Thamud as one of their own, their brother, with the call and with a sign.

Isti'adhah.

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

A'udhu billahi minash-shaytanir-rajim. — I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan.

7:73 in Arabic.

وَإِلَىٰ ثَمُودَ أَخَاهُمْ صَٰلِحًۭا ۗ قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُۥ ۖ قَدْ جَآءَتْكُم بَيِّنَةٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ۖ هَٰذِهِۦ نَاقَةُ ٱللَّهِ لَكُمْ ءَايَةًۭ ۖ فَذَرُوهَا تَأْكُلْ فِىٓ أَرْضِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ وَلَا تَمَسُّوهَا بِسُوٓءٍۢ فَيَأْخُذَكُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌۭ

Victor: And to the Thamud We sent their brother Salih. He said, "O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. There has come to you clear evidence from your Lord. This is the she-camel of Allah sent to you as a sign. So leave her to eat within Allah's land and do not touch her with harm, lest there seize you a painful punishment.

Austin: Ibn Kathir, rahimahullah, says Thamud came after 'Ad, and lived between the Hijaz and greater Syria. With the call came a clear proof, a sign they could see: the she-camel of Allah.

Al-Qurtubi, rahimahullah, says that name joins a creature to its Creator, and that this carries honour and distinction. She belonged to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, not to them.

Yu: Wait. So the one thing he asks about her is to leave her alone?

Austin: About her, yes: leave her to eat in Allah's land, and don't touch her with harm. The call came first; the camel is its sign.

Salma: There's a line in the tafsir on that. Her food and her care are not your burden.

Austin: Al-Qurtubi, yes: her provision and her upkeep were not on them. He adds, from Surah ash-Shu'ara, that she had her turn to drink and they had theirs. So the sign asked little of them: a share of the water, and their hands off her. And that was the part they could not do.

Long after, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, passed the same land. Ibn Umar, radiyallahu anhuma, reports in al-Bukhari that the people with him at al-Hijr made dough with water from its wells. He told them to pour the water away, feed the dough to the camels, and take their water from the well the she-camel used to drink from.

Viraj: I have a question about how she came. I'll save it for the end.

Austin: Hold on to it, Viraj.

Ayah 74 - Remember the favours4:43

Austin: Then Salih alayhis salam reminds them where they came from, and what they were able to build.

7:74 in Arabic.

وَٱذْكُرُوٓا۟ إِذْ جَعَلَكُمْ خُلَفَآءَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ عَادٍۢ وَبَوَّأَكُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ تَتَّخِذُونَ مِن سُهُولِهَا قُصُورًۭا وَتَنْحِتُونَ ٱلْجِبَالَ بُيُوتًۭا ۖ فَٱذْكُرُوٓا۟ ءَالَآءَ ٱللَّهِ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ

Salma: And remember when He made you successors after the 'Aad and settled you in the land, and you take for yourselves palaces from its plains and carve from the mountains, homes. Then remember the favors of Allah and do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corruption."

Viraj: Successors after 'Ad. Successors in what sense?

Austin: Al-Tabari, rahimahullah, explains it: you came after 'Ad in the land, once they had been destroyed. After them, and after their end.

They clearly had the skill: palaces on the plain, homes cut into the rock. Salih alayhis salam doesn't take that from them. He asks them to remember where it came from.

Victor: Ala'. That's the word from Surah ar-Rahman, isn't it? It comes back again and again.

Austin: It is. Fa-bi-ayyi ala'i rabbikuma tukadhdhiban: so which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? Of its thirty-four times in the Qur'an, thirty-one are that refrain. Ala', the favours, the good things Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives.

And al-Qurtubi notices something here: favours are given to people who do not believe as well. So a skill isn't proof of anything about us. It's a gift, and it asks to be remembered.

Yu: For me, that's the part I skip. I'm quick to be proud of what I did, and slow to remember who made me able to do it.

Austin: That's the step. The ayah puts the two side by side: what you built, and Who made you able. Holding them together is what keeps a skill from turning into pride.

Ayat 75-76 - Do you actually know?6:39

Austin: Now the leaders of Thamud turn, not to Salih alayhis salam, but to the believers among the weak.

7:75 in Arabic.

قَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ مِن قَوْمِهِۦ لِلَّذِينَ ٱسْتُضْعِفُوا۟ لِمَنْ ءَامَنَ مِنْهُمْ أَتَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّ صَٰلِحًۭا مُّرْسَلٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّهِۦ ۚ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا بِمَآ أُرْسِلَ بِهِۦ مُؤْمِنُونَ

Viraj: Said the eminent ones who were arrogant among his people to those who were oppressed, to those who believed among them, "Do you actually know that Salih is sent from his Lord?" They said, "Indeed we, in that with which he was sent, are believers."

7:76 in Arabic.

قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوٓا۟ إِنَّا بِٱلَّذِىٓ ءَامَنتُم بِهِۦ كَٰفِرُونَ

Viraj: Said those who were arrogant, "Indeed we, in that which you have believed, are disbelievers."

Austin: There's the question we began with.

Salma: Istud'ifu. At home da'if is simply weak. But this is a different shape of the word, isn't it?

Austin: It is, and the shape matters. Not just the weak: the people who were held weak, counted as weak by others, and treated that way. In Lane, this form means he found him to be so: found him weak. Al-Tabari says they were the people of humble means among the followers of Salih alayhis salam. In Indonesian it's duafa, from the same root.

Viraj: Can I push on that a little? Do you actually know. Taken on its own, that's a fair question. I'd want someone to ask me that, and I'd want a real answer.

Austin: Asked to learn, it would be. But the ayah names the askers first: the eminent ones who were arrogant. Al-Jalalayn, rahimahullah, says the leaders disdained belief in him. And they put it to the people they hold weak, as if their belief could not count.

Al-Jalalayn adds a yes: they answer the question, then say more. And what they add is the message: indeed we, in that with which he was sent, are believers. They're asked about the man. They answer with what he was sent with. That last part is my reading, not his.

Then the arrogant answer.

Salma: They won't say sent. Did you notice? The believers said, in that with which he was sent. These men say, in that which you have believed. They walk around it.

Austin: They do, and it's a fair thing to notice. Al-Tabari gives their meaning: what you affirm about Salih alayhis salam being a prophet, we deny; we neither affirm it nor accept it. Whether they avoided the word sent on purpose, the ayah doesn't say. What it shows is two answers side by side: the believers affirm what Salih alayhis salam was sent with, and the leaders reject what the believers accept.

Victor: Mm. Side by side like that, it stands out.

Ayat 77-79 - The deed, the end, and the last word9:21

Austin: Then the talking stops. Thamud act against the she-camel, the end comes, and Salih alayhis salam speaks to them one last time.

7:77 in Arabic.

فَعَقَرُوا۟ ٱلنَّاقَةَ وَعَتَوْا۟ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهِمْ وَقَالُوا۟ يَٰصَٰلِحُ ٱئْتِنَا بِمَا تَعِدُنَآ إِن كُنتَ مِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ

Yu: So they hamstrung the she-camel and were insolent toward the command of their Lord and said, "O Salih, bring us what you promise us, if you should be of the messengers."

7:78 in Arabic.

فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ ٱلرَّجْفَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا۟ فِى دَارِهِمْ جَٰثِمِينَ

Yu: So the earthquake seized them, and they became within their home corpses fallen prone.

7:79 in Arabic.

فَتَوَلَّىٰ عَنْهُمْ وَقَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ لَقَدْ أَبْلَغْتُكُمْ رِسَالَةَ رَبِّى وَنَصَحْتُ لَكُمْ وَلَٰكِن لَّا تُحِبُّونَ ٱلنَّٰصِحِينَ

Yu: And he turned away from them and said, "O my people, I had certainly conveyed to you the message of my Lord and advised you, but you do not like advisors."

Austin: They hamstrung her. One man struck, but the ayah says they. Ibn Kathir passes on a report Qatadah, rahimahullah, said he was told: the man who was to do it went round to all of them, even the women and children, and found them agreed. One hand, and the people who wanted it behind him.

And then they dare him: bring us what you promise us, if you should be of the messengers. Still an if. It's the same stance as ayah seventy-six, now said to his face, and now with a dare attached.

What they asked for comes, in one short ayah. Saheeh has the earthquake. The commentators read the word three ways: an earthquake, a terrible cry from the sky, or both together, and Surah Hud tells the same end as the shriek. What the ayah dwells on is where they ended: in their homes, the homes they had carved, fallen where they were.

Yu: Wasn't there something about the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, riding past their homes, later? Covering his face?

Austin: His head, yes. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, passed al-Hijr, their old dwellings, and told his Companions, radiyallahu anhum, not to enter the homes of people who had wronged themselves unless they entered weeping. Then he covered his head and rode quickly until he had crossed the valley.

Viraj: He didn't stop to look around. For me, that changes how I read an ending like this one.

Austin: No. He warned his Companions, radiyallahu anhum, not to go into those dwellings at all, unless weeping, then covered his head and hurried through the valley. That's the ending read the way he read it: a warning, not a sight.

Then Salih alayhis salam turns away from them.

Salma: Conveyed, and advised. Nuh alayhis salam used those same two words in the previous passage.

Austin: He did, early in his story: I convey, and I advise. Salih alayhis salam says them at the end, when it's all done. And he still opens the way he began: O my people. The commentators differ on whether he said this before the end or after it.

And his last line: but you do not like advisors. Al-Tabari explains it: “you do not love those who advise you for Allah's sake and hold you back from your own desires”.

Victor: Mm. For me, it's being easy to advise. My children would tell you I'm still working on it.

Austin: Hold you back from your own desires. That's the part I want to remember, because that is what advice does: it comes between us and something we wanted. Whether we can like the people who do that for us is what the ayah leaves with us.

Ayat 80-82 - What Lut named, and their only answer12:59

Austin: Now the second story, and it does not open with the call.

7:80 in Arabic.

وَلُوطًا إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِۦٓ أَتَأْتُونَ ٱلْفَٰحِشَةَ مَا سَبَقَكُم بِهَا مِنْ أَحَدٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ

Victor: And We had sent Lot when he said to his people, "Do you commit such immorality as no one has preceded you with from among the worlds?

7:81 in Arabic.

إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ ٱلرِّجَالَ شَهْوَةًۭ مِّن دُونِ ٱلنِّسَآءِ ۚ بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌۭ مُّسْرِفُونَ

Victor: Indeed, you approach men with desire, instead of women. Rather, you are a transgressing people."

7:82 in Arabic.

وَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِۦٓ إِلَّآ أَن قَالُوٓا۟ أَخْرِجُوهُم مِّن قَرْيَتِكُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌۭ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ

Victor: But the answer of his people was only that they said, "Evict them from your city! Indeed, they are men who keep themselves pure."

Austin: Those words, We had sent, are in brackets: the translators add them for the sense, and al-Tabari reads it the same way. He also allows a second reading: and mention Lut. Either way, there's no O my people. The ayah goes straight to the question of Lut alayhis salam, and he begins by naming what his people do.

Salma: I read that he was the nephew of Ibrahim alayhis salam. He had believed in Ibrahim alayhis salam and migrated with him to the Sham area.

Austin: That's Ibn Kathir, yes. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent Lut alayhis salam to the people of Sadum, Sodom, and the villages around it.

Viraj: Then was he their brother, the way the ayah calls Salih alayhis salam Thamud's brother?

Austin: Not in this ayah. But in Surah ash-Shu'ara the Qur'an does call him that: when their brother Lut said to them. The word is used of him, just not here. What this ayah gives us is what he said.

The commentators explain the immorality in the ayat's own terms: men approaching men instead of women. Lut alayhis salam names it plainly, and then he names what it is: transgression, going past a limit. That is the word ayah eighty-one ends on.

Salma: Musrifun. We had wa la tusrifu in an earlier passage, didn't we? Do not go past the limit.

Austin: Same root, yes. Al-Jalalayn explains it here as transgressing the bounds, going from what is lawful to what is unlawful.

Then his people answer, and it is the only answer they give: evict them.

Yu: Yatatahharun. Like taharah? Being clean for prayer?

Austin: The same root, yes. In Indonesian you'd say taharah, or tahir, clean. They keep themselves clean, and they work at it. And Lane notes that here the verb is used derisively.

So the thing they're accused of is being clean. Qatadah, in Ibn Kathir: they shamed them with what is not a shame at all. And al-Tabari puts their words simply: they keep clear of what we do.

No argument back, only get them out. Think back to Thamud. There the believers were the ones held weak, istud'ifu, and questioned for believing. Here their own town wants them out for keeping themselves clean. Believers again, seen from the other side.

Ayat 83-84 - Saved, except his wife, and see how was the end16:07

Austin: Then the ayat turn from their words to what Allah 'azza wa jall did.

7:83 in Arabic.

فَأَنجَيْنَٰهُ وَأَهْلَهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱمْرَأَتَهُۥ كَانَتْ مِنَ ٱلْغَٰبِرِينَ

Viraj: So We saved him and his family, except for his wife; she was of those who remained with the evildoers.

7:84 in Arabic.

وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِم مَّطَرًۭا ۖ فَٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ

Viraj: And We rained upon them a rain of stones. Then see how was the end of the criminals.

Austin: We saved him and his family. Then comes the exception: except his wife. The ayah puts her with those who remained.

Salma: There's a hadith about Lut alayhis salam I only half remember. May Allah have mercy on Lut, and something about a support?

Austin: Yes. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said: may Allah have mercy on Lut; he was indeed taking refuge with a strong support. Ibn Kathir quotes it at the ayah in Surah Hud where Lut alayhis salam wishes for that support, and says the support means Allah, the Mighty and Sublime. It's from another passage, but it sits naturally here: a whole town wanted him out, and his support was Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And on the rest, a rain of stones. Then ayah eighty-four asks one thing of us: see how was the end of the criminals.

Ibn Kathir takes it as said to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam: “See, O Muhammad, the end of those who dared to disobey Allah and reject His Messengers.” Al-Tabari says the same, about the people of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, who denied him, and he adds: if they do not repent.

Viraj: If they do not repent. So even this ending leaves a door open?

Austin: It does, in al-Tabari's reading. The warning comes while there is still time to turn.

Salma: That brings me back to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, at al-Hijr. Not unless weeping, he told them, so that what struck the people of Thamud would not strike the Companions too, radiyallahu anhum.

Austin: Yes. He took it as a warning and passed it on as one. That's what see how was the end asks of us: not to look at Thamud and Sodom, but at ourselves, while the door is still open.

Your questions, and two for your circle18:28

Austin: So, back to the question we began with: do you actually know that Salih is sent from his Lord? The believers of Thamud didn't argue about the man. They answered with what he was sent with, and held to it. Lut alayhis salam and those with him were mocked for keeping clean, and his support was Allah 'azza wa jall. When someone with standing asks us, are you really sure, we don't have to win an argument about ourselves. Or better: we don't have to make it about ourselves at all. We remember the ala', the favours we were given; we hold to what was sent; and we keep clean. And the warning at the end is for us too, while the door is open.

Before we finish, any questions? Viraj, you saved one.

Viraj: Someone at the masjid told me the she-camel walked out of a rock. Is that in the Qur'an?

Austin: The Qur'an calls her the she-camel of Allah and a sign, and does not say how she came. The commentators report that she came out of a rock; al-Jalalayn says they had asked Salih alayhis salam to bring her out of a rock they chose.

Viraj: So do I take the rock as true or not?

Austin: Hold to what the ayah says: she was a sign, and she belonged to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The rock is the commentators' report, and the longer stories, with names and days, are reports that are not graded.

Viraj: That's clearer. The ayah is what I hold to, and the rock is their report.

Victor: Mine goes back to the she-camel. One man struck, and the ayah says they. Even the ones who only kept quiet?

Austin: The report describes people agreeing to it. It doesn't say that keeping quiet, by itself, counted as agreeing. And it's the disbelievers of Thamud he means; the believers had no part in this. Where quiet becomes agreement is a real question, and one for your own circle.

Victor: Mm. And if you're the one keeping quiet?

Austin: Then that's the second question for your circle.

Yu: Like a group chat. Everyone sees it, and nobody says anything.

Salma: Can I go back to the wife of Lut alayhis salam? She lived in his house. Why wasn't she saved?

Austin: Ibn Kathir says she did not believe, remaining on the religion of her people, and that she told them who came to visit Lut alayhis salam. Where the Qur'an says, in Surah at-Tahrim, that the wives of Nuh and Lut alayhimas salam betrayed their husbands, the commentators say it was in faith, never in chastity.

Salma: So it wasn't about where she came from. It was what she chose?

Austin: What she chose, and what she did. Living in a prophet's house didn't carry her. And the next ayah there gives the other side: Pharaoh's wife, a believer married to a tyrant, who prayed, “My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise”.

Victor: Mm. That's a comfort.

Austin: Two questions for your circle. The first, Yu?

Yu: Think of someone who keeps away from what everyone around them is doing, at school, at work or among friends. Why are they so often mocked, and not simply left alone?

Austin: And Victor, the second.

Victor: A wrong is done in front of you, at home, in a group chat or at work. What's the difference between approving it, feeling you can't respond, and not getting involved? And what would a wise response look like?

Austin: The full questions are in the study notes for your circle.

Salma: That second one will stay with me.

Close21:55

Austin: Before we close, anything you're taking with you?

Yu: Ala'. I'll hear that refrain differently now.

Victor: Being easy to advise. In sha Allah.

Austin: Mine is close to Victor's. This week I'll ask one person I trust for the advice I've been avoiding, and listen to it. That's one I need.

Let us end the way the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, ended a gathering. Abu Barza, radiyallahu anhu, reports he called these words an expiation for what happens in a gathering. Salma, will you?

Salma: Subhanaka Allahumma wa bihamdika, ashhadu an la ilaha illa anta, astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk.

Austin: Glory is to You, O Allah, and praise. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except You. I seek Your forgiveness, and I repent to You.

All: Ameen.

Salma: Next time, the passage goes on from ayah eighty-five, with Shu'ayb alayhis salam and the people of Madyan, in sha Allah.

Viraj: And if these stories are new to you, you're starting where I did, not so long ago.

Austin: If you lead a halaqa of your own, the questions and the study notes for this passage are on the halaqa website, for your circle. Jazakumullahu khayran for listening.

Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.