The Poets (Al-Shu‘ara’)
Verses 185-191 GROUP_964 26.185-191
185
قَالُوا إِنَّمَا أَنتَ مِنَ الْمُسَحَّرِينَ
They replied, ‘You are bewitched.
186
وَمَا أَنتَ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُنَا وَإِن نَّظُنُّكَ لَمِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ
You are only a human being like ourselves. Indeed we think you are a liar.
187
فَأَسْقِطْ عَلَيْنَا كِسَفًا مِّنَ السَّمَاء إِن كُنتَ مِنَ الصَّادِقِينَ
So cause a fragment of the sky to fall on us, if you are truthful.’
188
قَالَ رَبِّي أَعْلَمُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
He said, ‘My Lord has full knowledge of all your actions.’
189
فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَأَخَذَهُمْ عَذَابُ يَوْمِ الظُّلَّةِ إِنَّهُ كَانَ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ
They rejected him, and then had to suffer the punishment of a day of overshadowing gloom. That was indeed the punishment of an awful day.
190
إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَةً وَمَا كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ
Surely, in this is indeed a sign; but most of them would not believe:
191
وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ
your Lord is the Mighty One, the Merciful.
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Commentary
(a) Shu‘ayb’s community had so much faith in the righteousness of their forefathers’ ways that the prophet’s sayings seemed perverse and absurd. They said that somebody might well have cast a magic spell on him to make him talk the way he did. They challenged Shu‘ayb to bring down the punishment of the skies, if what he said were true. They did this to deride Shu‘ayb, feeling that the punishment would certainly not descend because of him. The insolence of this community invited the direct wrath of God, as a vast cloud plunged them in gloom and a raging fire enveloped them, wiping out even the smallest trace of the community.