فَصَبَّ عَلَيهِم رَبُّكَ سَوطَ عَذابٍ

So your Lord let a scourge of punishment loose on them.

EXEGESIS

The noun sawṭ, which is in the singular, means: an assortment, a mixture, a whip, a scourge, a share or a dose of something, as well as punishment.^{‎[1]Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 465.}

EXPOSITION

Despite this short verse, the words that constitute it serve to vividly describe the punishment that was inflicted on these ungodly people. The third person, singular, perfect tense verb ṣabba, has the literal meaning of: to pour out liquid and the like.^{‎[2]Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 507.} It has been suggested that the use of this term here may mean the severity and continuity of the punishment that was meted out to these people, as ‘pouring something’ denotes a sense of continuity.^{‎[3]Amthal, 19/183.} Tabatabai avers with this interpretation adding that the indefinite form of the word ʿadhāb (punishment) is to denote a sense of magnification of the punishment. Hence, the meaning of the verse is: your Lord sent on all these transgressing people who caused corruption on earth, severe, sustained punishment, in the wake of their transgressions and corruption.^{‎[4]Mizan, 20/281.} It may also mean the purification of the land of these tyrannical people by ‘pouring over them diverse punishments and thereby ridding the earth of them’.^{‎[5]Amthal, 19/183.}

Another significant term utilised here to vividly express the punishment meted out to these communities is the noun sawṭ, which means: an assortment, a mixture, a whip, a scourge, a share or a dose of something, as well as metaphorically used to mean punishment, a type which causes a person’s blood and flesh to mesh together, which causes immense pain and torment.^{‎[6]Amthal, 19/183.} Ṭūsī writes that it means a dose or a share of punishment such as punishment by a whip or a scourge. However, the punishment meted out to these miscreant communities was far greater. He also writes that it can be considered to mean a scourge of punishment which causes blood to mesh with flesh such as when whipped.^{‎[7]Tibyan, 10/343.}

Ṭabrisī writes that God uses the term sawṭ, meaning a dose or a portion, to suggest that what befell them of punishment in the world was but a dose or a portion of what has been prepared for them in the hereafter. He also reports that when Hasan al-Baṣrī would reach this verse in his recitation he would say: ‘God has many scourges and He punished them with one of them.’^{‎[8]Tabrisi.J, 6/487.}

Therefore, this verse describes the punishment that these peoples were inflicted with and it may also be interpreted to mean the assortment of punishments they were afflicted with. Hence the tribe of ʿĀd was afflicted by a blast of wind (26:139, 41:13, 51:41-42, 69:6-8), brought about by terrible clouds (46:24-25). A wind that was icy cold (41:16), that howled and blew away people like uprooted trees (54:18-22), and left everything to shreds (51:41-42). A furious wind that blew over seven consecutive nights and eight days (69:6-8), while 41:16 hints that this was an earthly punishment whereas a hereafter one still awaited them.

The Thamūd were given a respite of three days before the onset of punishment (11:65) and then came God’s punishment (11:66, 26:158, 91:14-15), variously described as an earthquake/blast (7:78, 41:13, 11:67), a bolt of punishment (41:17), a deafening blast (69:4-5), a blast that overtook them such that they could not even stand upright let alone defend themselves (51:43-45), a punishment that levelled them (91:14), leaving them perished in their dwellings (7:78, 11:67) like dry sticks (54:30-32).

Finally, Pharaoh and his henchmen were all destroyed by drowning (2:50, 7:136, 10:90, 1:103, 20:78, 26:63-66, 28:40, 29:40, 43:55, 44:24, 51:40). However, the Quran adds that before that ultimate punishment, Pharaoh and his people who followed him in his tyranny were inflicted by several different types of punishment so that they may perhaps pay heed to the divine warnings, such as drought and crop failure (7:130), flood, the scourge of locusts, lice, frogs, and blood (7:133), and the plague (7:134). But all this seems to have been of no avail.

11:98-99, 28:41-42, and 40:45-50 explicitly declare that aside from God’s punishment on Pharaoh and his henchmen in this world, they will yet face the fire in the hereafter.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. The Messenger of God said: ‘The tyrants and the arrogant people will be resurrected on the Day of Judgement in the form of tiny ants, which the rest of the people will trample underfoot – because of their low esteem in God’s estimation.’^{‎[9]Tanbih, 1/199.}
2. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘Whoever acts tyrannically will be broken and humiliated.’^{‎[10]Ghurar, h. 7697.}
3. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘God will humiliate and depose whoever behaves tyrannically.’^{‎[11]Ghurar, h. 8471.}
4. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘Beware of behaving tyrannically with the slaves of God, for eventually God annihilates every tyrant.’^{‎[12]Ghurar, h. 2695.}
5. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘The tyrants will be the farthest from God on the Day of Judgement.’^{‎[13]Wasail, 11/304, h. 7.}

[1] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 465.
[2] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 507.
[3] Amthal, 19/183.
[4] Mizan, 20/281.
[5] Amthal, 19/183.
[6] Amthal, 19/183.
[7] Tibyan, 10/343.
[8] Tabrisi.J, 6/487.
[9] Tanbih, 1/199.
[10] Ghurar, h. 7697.
[11] Ghurar, h. 8471.
[12] Ghurar, h. 2695.
[13] Wasail, 11/304, h. 7.