Hud: 54

Ayah

Word by Word

إِن

Not

نَّقُولُ

we say

إِلَّا

except (that)

ٱعۡتَرَىٰكَ

have seized you

بَعۡضُ

some

ءَالِهَتِنَا

(of) our gods

بِسُوٓءٖۗ

with evil

قَالَ

He said

إِنِّيٓ

Indeed, I

أُشۡهِدُ

[I] call Allah to witness

ٱللَّهَ

[I] call Allah to witness

وَٱشۡهَدُوٓاْ

and (you) bear witness

أَنِّي

that I am

بَرِيٓءٞ

innocent

مِّمَّا

of what

تُشۡرِكُونَ

you associate

Translation

"We say nothing but that (perhaps) some of our gods may have seized thee with imbecility." He said: "I call Allah to witness, and do ye bear witness, that I am free from the sin of ascribing, to Him,

Tafsir

"The Conversation between (the People of) `Ad and Hud

Allah, the Exalted, informs that they said to their Prophet,

قَالُواۡ يَا هُودُ مَا جِيۡتَنَا بِبَيِّنَةٍ

They said:""O Hud! No evidence have you brought us.

This means that they claimed that Hud had not brought them any proof or evidence for what he claimed.

وَمَا نَحۡنُ بِتَارِكِي الِهَتِنَا عَن قَوۡلِكَ

and we shall not leave our gods for your (mere) saying!

They were saying how could his mere statement, ""Leave these gods,"" be sufficient proof for them to leave their idols!

وَمَا نَحۡنُ لَكَ بِمُوۡمِنِينَ

and we are not believers in you.

This means that they did not believe what he was saying was true

إِن نَّقُولُ إِلاَّ اعۡتَرَاكَ بَعۡضُ الِهَتِنَا بِسُوَءٍ

All that we say is that some of our gods have seized you with evil.

They were saying, ""We think that some of our idols have afflicted you with madness and insanity in your intellect because you are trying to stop them from being worshipped and defame them.""

قَالَ إِنِّي أُشۡهِدُ اللّهِ وَاشۡهَدُواۡ أَنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِّمَّا تُشۡرِكُونَ

مِن دُونِهِ

He said:""I call Allah to witness and bear you witness, that I am free from that which you ascribe as partners in worship besides Him (Allah).

Here, he is saying, ""Verily, I am innocent of all of the rivals and idols (that you associate with Allah).

فَكِيدُونِي جَمِيعًا

So plot against me, all of you,

you and your gods if they are true.""

ثُمَّ لَا تُنظِرُونِ

and give me no respite.

the blinking of an eye.""

Then, Allah says

إِنِّي تَوَكَّلۡتُ عَلَى اللّهِ رَبِّي وَرَبِّكُم مَّا مِن دَابَّةٍ إِلاَّ هُوَ اخِذٌ بِنَاصِيَتِهَا

I put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord! There is not a moving creature but He has the grasp of its forelock.

Every creature is under His (Allah's) power and His authority. He is the Best Judge, the Most Just, Who does not do any injustice in His ruling.

إِنَّ رَبِّي عَلَى صِرَاطٍ مُّسۡتَقِيمٍ

Verily, my Lord is on the straight path (the truth).

For verily, He is upon the straight path. Verily, this argument contains a far-reaching proof and absolute evidence of the truthfulness of what Hud had come to them with.

It also proves the falsehood of them worshipping idols that could not benefit nor harm them. Rather, these idols were inanimate objects that could not hear, see, befriend, or make enmity.

The only One Who is worthy of having worship directed solely towards Him is Allah alone, without any partners. He is the One in Whose Hand is the sovereignty and He is in control of all things. There is nothing except that it is under His ownership, power and authority. Thus, there is no deity worthy of worship except Him and there is no Lord other than Him

Allah tells;

فَإِن تَوَلَّوۡاۡ فَقَدۡ أَبۡلَغۡتُكُم مَّا أُرۡسِلۡتُ بِهِ إِلَيۡكُمۡ

So if you turn away, still I have conveyed the Message with which I was sent to you.

Hud says to them, ""If you turn away from that which I have brought to you in reference to worship of Allah, Who is your Lord alone, without any partners, then the proof has been established against you. This is because I have conveyed the Message of Allah to you, which He has sent me with.""

وَيَسۡتَخۡلِفُ رَبِّي قَوۡمًا غَيۡرَكُمۡ

My Lord will make another people succeed you,

This refers to a group of people who will worship Allah alone, without associating anything with Him.

This also implies that the polytheists do not bother Allah and they do not harm Him in the least with their disbelief. To the contrary, their disbelief merely harms their own selves.

وَلَا تَضُرُّونَهُ شَيۡيًا

and you will not harm Him in the least.

إِنَّ رَبِّي عَلَىَ كُلِّ شَيۡءٍ حَفِيظٌ

Surely, my Lord is Guardian over all things.

This means that Allah is a Witness and Guardian over the statements of His servants and their actions. He will give them due recompense for their actions. If they do good deeds, He will reward them with good. If they do evil, He will punish them with evil.

The Destruction of the People of `Ad and the Salvation of Those among Them Who believed

Allah tells;

وَلَمَّا جَاء أَمۡرُنَا

And when Our commandment came,

This is referring to the barren wind with which Allah destroyed them, to the very last of them.

نَجَّيۡنَا هُودًا وَالَّذِينَ امَنُواۡ مَعَهُ بِرَحۡمَةٍ مِّنَّا

وَنَجَّيۡنَاهُم مِّنۡ عَذَابٍ غَلِيظٍ

We saved Hud and those who believed with him by a mercy from Us, and We saved them from a severe torment.

The mercy and kindness of Allah, the Exalted saved Hud and his followers from this terrible punishment

وَتِلۡكَ عَادٌ جَحَدُواۡ بِأيَاتِ رَبِّهِمۡ وَعَصَوۡاۡ رُسُلَهُ

Such were `Ad (people). They rejected the Ayat of their Lord, and disobeyed His Messengers,

This means they disbelieved in the proofs and revelations (of Allah) and they disobeyed the Messengers of Allah.

This is due to the fact that whoever disbelieves in a Prophet, then verily, he has disbelieved in all of the Prophets, peace be upon them. There is no difference between any one of them, in the sense that it is necessary to believe in all of them. Therefore, `Ad disbelieved in Hud and their disbelief was considered disbelief in all of the Messengers.

وَاتَّبَعُواۡ أَمۡرَ كُلِّ جَبَّارٍ عَنِيدٍ

and followed the command of every proud, obstinate.

This means that they abandoned following their rightly guided Messenger and they followed the command of every proud, obstinate person. Thus, they were followed in this life by a curse from Allah and His believing servants whenever they are mentioned. On the Day of Resurrection a call will be made against them in front of witnesses

وَأُتۡبِعُواۡ فِي هَـذِهِ الدُّنۡيَا لَعۡنَةً وَيَوۡمَ الۡقِيَامَةِ

And they were pursued by a curse in this world and (so they will be) on the Day of Resurrection.

أَلا إِنَّ عَادًا كَفَرُواۡ رَبَّهُمۡ

No doubt! Verily, `Ad disbelieved in their Lord.

أَلَا بُعۡدًا لِّعَادٍ قَوۡمِ هُودٍ

So away with `Ad, the people of Hud."