إِنّا أَرسَلنا عَلَيهِم صَيحَةً واحِدَةً فَكانوا كَهَشيمِ المُحتَظِرِ

We sent against them a single cry, and they became like the dry sticks of a corral builder.

EXEGESIS

Hashīm (dry sticks) is from the verb hashama which means to shatter, to break into pieces, or to turn into fragments. The great-grandfather of Prophet Muhammad (s) was called Hāshim because in a year of famine he fed the people of Mecca with loafs of bread that he made into pieces served in gravy. Hashīm is the passive participle of the term and means that which is made into pieces. In this context, it refers to the broken pieces of weak items of plants.[1] It is generally used when referring to dried-up plants that are fragmented and are usually gathered by farmers to feed their livestock. It has also been used in reference to those dried-up sticks that are broken due to being trampled upon by animals.[2] This seems to be the most popular view amongst exegetes. Others have mentioned that it refers to the loose, dry sand that is on the outer layer of a wall and which spreads around when the wind blows,[3] or that it refers to those parts of the walls of an animal enclosure that dry up and fall to the ground and are then trampled upon by animals.[4]

Muḥtaẓir comes from the root word ḥaẓara which means to prevent. Based on this, a fence that is created around the enclosure of animals to prevent them from escaping or being attacked by predators is called ḥaẓīrah, and muḥtaẓir therefore is either someone who owns such an enclosure[5] or one who makes such an enclosure.[6]

EXPOSITION

This verse expounds on the punishment alluded to in the previous verse. They were destroyed by a single loud cry. It is not farfetched to suggest that perhaps this refers to the loud cry that accompanies thunderbolts in the sky, in light of 51:44 and 41:13.[7] By comparing all the verses that describe the destruction that befell the people of Thamūd, we can observe three apparently different phenomena: a loud cry (11:67 and this verse), thunderbolts of lightning strikes (51:44 and 41:13), and an earthquake (7:78). The first two can be understood together as it is common for thunderbolts to be accompanied by loud cries.

This verse presents an astounding metaphor. The loud scream or cry from the sky was such that it left the people of Thamūd in a state that entirely froze their beings and made them stationary. It was as if a massive explosion had taken place, leaving their great buildings like animal enclosures and their bodies like pieces of dried-up plants.[8]

As to what exactly is the point of comparison, exegetes have mentioned different possibilities. Perhaps their bodies would have dried up after the cry and they would look like the bodies of those who died a long time ago and have not been buried, and thus their bodies become very dry.[9] Or perhaps when the cry hit them they held on to each other out of fear, just as broken pieces of plants become stuck to each other in a pile.[10]

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. It has been reported from Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) that when he was asked about the verses, [The people of] Thamūd denied the warnings, for they said: ‘Are we to follow a lone human from ourselves?! Indeed, then we would be in error and madness.’ ‘Has the reminder been cast upon him from among us? Rather he is a self-conceited liar’ [verses 23-25], he said: ‘This is what they belied Ṣāliḥ (a) with, and Allah never destroys a people until He sends to them before that messengers, so it can be used as proof against them. Therefore, Allah sent Ṣāliḥ to them. He (a) called them towards Allah. They did not respond and were insolent to him, and said: “We will not believe you until you bring out for us from this rock a ten-month pregnant she-camel.” And it was a rock which they used to venerate, worship, make their sacrifices on at the beginning of every year, and gather around. They said: “If you are, as you suppose, a prophet and messenger, so call upon your Lord for us so that He brings out for us from this solid rock a ten-month pregnant she-camel.” So Allah brought it out as they had sought from Him. Then Allah revealed to him: “O Ṣāliḥ! Tell them that Allah has made a share for this she-camel from the water, that it would drink from it one day and you would drink from it the next day.” When it would be the day designated for the she-camel to drink, it would drink water, thereafter they would milk her, and there did not remain any young or old person except that they drank from her milk on that day. The night would come, and thereafter in the morning they would drink from the water, and the she-camel would not drink from it during that day. So that situation prevailed until such time as Allah so desired. Then they rebelled against Allah and some of them went to the others and said: “Slay this she-camel and be free from it. We are not happy that there should be a day for us to drink and a day for it to drink.” Then they said: “Who is there to kill it and we can make for him [a reward] of what he loves?” So there came to them a red-headed, ruddy-complexioned, blue-eyed man, of an adulterous birth, whose father was unknown, called Qudār. A wretched one of all wretched ones, inauspicious upon them, so they assigned him a reward for it. When the she-camel went towards the water to drink from it, he left it until it had drunk the water. When it returned, he sat waiting for it upon its path. He struck her with a sword but it did not affect her. So he struck at it again and killed her and it fell down upon the ground on its side, and its calf fled until it reached the top of the mountain. It cried out three times towards the sky. And the people of Ṣāliḥ (a) came over. There did not remain anyone from them except that he participated in hitting it, and they distributed its meat between themselves. There did not remain anyone from them, whether young or old except that they ate from it. So when Ṣāliḥ (a) saw that, he (a) came up to them and said: “O People! What called you all to do what you have done? Have you rebelled against your Lord?” So Allah revealed to Ṣāliḥ: “Your people have been tyrannous and rebellious, and killed the she-camel that was sent to them as a proof, and they were not harmed by it, but it benefitted them great benefits. So tell them: ‘I will be sending upon you My punishment after three days. If they repent and return [from their ways], I shall accept their repentance and withhold [the punishment] from them, and if they do not repent and do not return [from their ways], I will send upon them My punishment on the third day.’” So Ṣāliḥ (a) came and said to them: “O people! I am a messenger of your Lord. He is saying to you all that if you were to repent and return [from your ways] and seek forgiveness, He will forgive you and turn towards you [mercifully].” So when he said that to them, they became more rebellious and treacherous than what they had been and said: “O Ṣāliḥ, bring us what you threaten us with, if you are one of the truthful ones.” He (a) said: “O people! When you wake up tomorrow morning your faces would be yellow, and on the second day your faces would be red, and on the third day your faces would be black.” When it was the morning of the first day and their faces turned yellow, some of them went to the others and said: “There has come upon you what Ṣāliḥ had spoken of.” The rebellious ones among them said: “We will not listen to the words of Ṣāliḥ and neither shall we accept his words, even though they may be grave.” When it was the morning of the second day and their faces turned red, some of them came towards the others and said: “O people! There has come upon you what Ṣāliḥ had spoken of.” So the rebellious ones among them said: “Even if we were all to be destroyed, we will not listen to the words of Ṣāliḥ nor will we leave our gods which our forefathers had been worshipping.” And they did not repent, nor did they return [from their ways]. When it was the morning of the third day and their faces turned black, some of them walked towards the others and said: “O people! There has come upon you what Ṣāliḥ had spoken of.” So the rebellious ones from among them said: “Indeed what Ṣāliḥ had said has come upon us.” So when it was the middle of the night, Gabriel came upon them and screamed out a loud scream at them which broke their eardrums, split their hearts, and ruptured their livers. And during those three days they had been applying camphor upon themselves, and shrouding themselves, as they knew that the punishment would be descending upon them. So all of them died in the blink of an eye, their young ones as well as their old ones. There did not remain for them a she-camel, nor a sheep, or anything except that Allah destroyed it. They had all died in their homes and on their beds. Then Allah sent upon them with the scream, a fire from the sky. It burnt all of them; and this was their story.’[11]

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Other meanings that have been mentioned for hashīm al-muḥtaẓir include: burnt bones and burnt up ash.[12]

Some have suggested that the point of comparison between their dead bodies and dried up plants is to indicate that after the destruction befell them, they became like fuel or firewood for the fire of hell (see 21:98 and 72:15).[13]

[1] Munyah, 27/207.
[2] Amthal, 17/330.
[3] Tabrisi, 9/291.
[4] Muhit, 10/45.
[5] Amthal, 17/330.
[6] Mizan, 19/81.
[7] Munyah, 27/211.
[8] Amthal, 17/330.
[9] Razi, 29/312.
[10] Razi, 29/312.
[11] Kafi, 8/187-189, h. 214.
[12] Suyuti, 6/136.
[13] Razi, 29/312.