هَل أَتاكَ حَديثُ الجُنودِ

فِرعَونَ وَثَمودَ

Did you receive the story of the hosts,

of Pharaoh and Thamūd?

EXEGESIS

Ḥadīth (story) is derived from ḥudūth. Ḥudūth means the occurrence of something with no prior existence. Every communication that reaches a person through hearing, inspiration, whether in wakefulness or in dreams, is called ḥadīth.^{‎[1]Raghib, p. 222, ḥ-d-th.} This is because those words are something that have been brought to be, even though they were not before.^{‎[2]See the discussion in Tahqiq, 2/207-208, ḥ-d-th.} Here it means the (hi)stories of those previous nations. More specifically it is referring to the stories of how they were destroyed by God for their tyranny.

Junūd (hosts) is the plural of jund and means a group of soldiers or an army.^{‎[3]Raghib, p. 207, j-n-d.}

The interrogative phrase hal atāka (Did you receive) recurs in the Quran as a rhetorical device to introduce momentous events from the past, typically with a tone of awe or warning. See for example 88:1, which introduces the overwhelming calamity of the hereafter. In this verse, it creates a dramatic entry point, recalling past destructions to instil fear and reflection.

EXPOSITION

The address is still directed at the Prophet, although it also carries a universal message to all readers of the surah. The question is naturally a rhetorical one. The Prophet – like his contemporaries among the Arabs – was quite familiar with the stories of Pharaoh and Thamūd. The fact that he is addressed allows the reader to further appreciate the gravity of what is being said. If pondering the histories of those past nations can provide benefit even for someone at the spiritual status of the Prophet, then what should be said of its benefit for us?

God has referred to those past nations with the title of hosts (junūd), and not for example aqwām (people), or umam (nations), in order to emphasise their military power, despite of which they were easily destroyed by God when they rebelled against Him. If God earlier spoke of His power and punishment in an abstract way, now He is giving a concrete example of how He punished previous nations. The usage of the term junūd also ties into the militaristic imagery present in previous verses: the fortresses in the heavens and the armies of the Men of the Ditch. While the power of the hosts of Pharaoh and Thamūd and the Men of the Ditch are well known to us, No one knows the hosts of your Lord except Him (74:31). For more on this, see the commentary on verses 21-22.

Interestingly, inscriptions in Himyarite monuments describing the military campaigns of Dhū Nuwās mention both ‘the Lord of the Jews’ and ‘the Lord of the Hosts’.^{‎[4]Sigrid K Kjær, Monotheism, Kingship, and Religious Transformation in Late Antique Yemen: The Rise and Fall of Joseph Dhu Nuwas (Austin: The University of Texas, 2019), p. 63 (accessed at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/90289923-d4b3-4558-8490-a215a7519438/content).} If this indeed is the name that he was known with, then the wording of these verses is quite apt. Moreover, unlike Thamūd, Pharaoh is mentioned rather than his nation because as the tyrannical ruler, he personified his people’s collective defiance.^{‎[5]Qurtubi, 30/89.}

[1] Raghib, p. 222, ḥ-d-th.
[2] See the discussion in Tahqiq, 2/207-208, ḥ-d-th.
[3] Raghib, p. 207, j-n-d.
[4] Sigrid K Kjær, Monotheism, Kingship, and Religious Transformation in Late Antique Yemen: The Rise and Fall of Joseph Dhu Nuwas (Austin: The University of Texas, 2019), p. 63 (accessed at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/90289923-d4b3-4558-8490-a215a7519438/content).
[5] Qurtubi, 30/89.