Surah 27. An-Naml

62That is, nine chiefs of the tribes each of whom had a band of followers with him.

63"The guardian": the chief of the Prophet Salih's tribe, who, according to the ancient tribal tradition and custom, could make a claim to blood vengeance. The same was the position in Makkah of the Holy Prophet's uncle, Abu Talib. The Quraish were hesitant that if they attacked and killed the Holy Prophet, Abu Talib, the chief of Bani Hashim, would come out with a claim to blood vengeance on behalf of his clan.

64This precisely was the kind of plot which the Makkan chiefs of the clans were devising against the Holy Prophet, and they devised the same ultimately on the occasion of migration (Hijrah) to kill him. They decided that men from all the clans would attack him in a body so that the Bani Hashim could not hold any one of the clans as responsible for the murder, and, therefore, would find it impossible to fight all of them at one and the same time.

65That is, "Before they could make the night attack on the Prophet Salih at the appointed time Allah sent down His scourge which destroyed their whole nation completely. It appears that they made this plot after hamstringing the she-camel. According to Surah Hud: 65, when they had killed the she-camel, Prophet Salih gave them a notice to enjoy life in their houses for three more days, for then they would be seized by the torment. At this they might have thought that the torment with which Salih threatened them might come or might not, but they must take the vengeance on Salih himself. Therefore, most probably they chose the same night for the attack which Allah had appointed for sending down the torment, and thus were struck down by Allah even before they could touch the Prophet Salih."

66That is, "The ignorant people will say, `There is no link between the Prophet Salih and his she-camel and the earthquake which struck the people of Thamud. These Wings have Weir natural causes. Their occurrence or otherwise has nothing to do with the piety and wickedness of the people of a place, with Weir high-handedness or Weir show of mercy. It is meaningless merely to say that such and such a city or land was filled with sin and wickedness, and therefore, it was overwhelmed by flood, or its habitation turned upside down by an earthquake, or it was ruined by a sudden disaster'." But the people who possess knowledge know that this universe is not being ruled by a deaf and blind God, but by an All-Wise, All-Knowing One Who is deciding the destinies. His decisions are not subject to physical causes, but the physical causes are subject to His will. His decisions to debase or exalt nations are not taken blindly but with wisdom and justice. In His Book of Law Were is also included the principle of retribution, according to which the wicked are made to suffer for Weir evil deeds even in this world, on moral grounds. The people who are aware of these realities, cannot explain away the occurrence of an earthquake by citing physical and natural causes; they will rather look upon them as the scourge of warning for themselves, and they will learn lessons from it. They will try to understand those moral causes because of which the Creator annihilated a flourishing nation, which He Himself had created. They will divert Weir conduct and attitude from the track that brings Allah's wrath to the way that joins them to His mercy.