The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 561
PT. 8 AL-A'RĀF CH. 7 وَاذْكُرُوا إِذْ جَعَلَكُمْ خُلَفَاءَ مِنْ بَعْدِ عَادٍ And remember the time. 75 وَبَوَّاكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ تَتَّخِذُونَ مِنْ of His favours after Ad, and سُهُولِهَا قُصُورًا وَ تَنْحِتُونَ الْجِبَالَ jajcars بُيُوتًا فَاذْكُرُوا أَلَاءَ اللَّهِ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ "when He made you inheritors 'Ād, assigned you an abode in the land; you build palaces in its plains, and mountains you hew hew the therefore, the favours of Allah and commit not iniquity in the earth causing disorder. '973 houses. into Remember, قَالَ الْمَلَأُ الَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا مِنْ قَوْمِهِ The chief men of his people. 76 who were arrogant said to those "6:166; 7:70,130; 10:15. 15:83; 26:150. had entrusted him, and that if they did not stand out of her way, God's punishment would surely descend upon them. Thus it was that the she- camel was meant as a sign for the tribe of Thamud. There was nothing unusual about the camel itself. It was an ordinary animal. The sanctity that attached to it was that God had declared it to be a sign and a symbol of the sanctity and inviolability of the person of the Prophet Ṣāliḥ and doing an injury to it was declared to be tantamount to doing an injury to Ṣāliḥ himself and to hampering his work. The words, leave her that she may feed in Allah's earth, do not mean that she was to be allowed to graze in any field she pleased. What is meant is only that no obstruction was to be put in her way, and that she was to be permitted to proceed to any place to which Ṣāliḥ might choose to go. The declaration by Ṣāliḥ about the free movement of his she-camel was also in harmony with a time-honoured Arab custom. 973. Important Words: is بوا assigned you can abode) بواكم derived from which means, he returned. means, he lodged him in an abode. means, he prepared for him an abode and assigned or gave him a place therein (Lane). Commentary: The words, you build palaces in its plains, refer to the winter residences of the tribe, while the expression, and you hew the mountains into houses, allude to their summer residences in the hills. The tribe of Thamud were a cultured people-industrious, wealthy and resourceful. Judged by the standards of that time, they led a luxurious and comfortable life, going up the hills in the hot season and spending their winters in the plains. 1001