The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 97
CHAPTER 11 HŪD (Revealed before Hijrah) Place and Date of Revelation. This is a Meccan Surah. According to Ibn 'Abbās, Al-Ḥasan, ‘Ikrimah, Mujahid, Qatādah and Jābir bin Zaid, the whole of it was revealed at Mecca. Ibn 'Abbas, according to one report, however, makes an exception in the case of verse 13 which, he says, was revealed at Medina. According to Muqatil, the whole Surah belongs to the Meccan period, with the exception of vv. 13, 18, & 115. Subject Matter of the Sūrah: The Surah discusses at length one of the subjects dealt with in the previous Surah. In the latter it was said that God deals with the enemies of His Prophets in three ways: (1) Some are completely destroyed; (2) others are wholly spared; and (3) yet others are partly destroyed and partly spared. In the present chapter, the Quran discusses the first category and states how God completely destroyed certain people so that no trace of them was left and He raised in their place another people who did not constitute the continuation of any previous people but introduced a new era. The Surah also points out that one of the attributes of God is that He watches the evil actions of men and deals with them according to their actions. It further says that He makes provision for the guidance of men as circumstances demand and, as that provision is made for the good of man himself, therefore when he does not benefit by it, he perishes spiritually just as he would perish physically for lack of food. Again, it is pointed out that just as mankind does not come to an end when one generation of men passes away because it is succeeded by another generation, similarly, when one religious movement perishes, its place is taken by another. The Surah further tells us that though worldly progress is possible even when people keep away from God, yet only those people are granted permanence in the earth who are honest not only in their worldly affairs but are also true to God. In other words, it is only those who are obedient to God and maintain their connection with Him whose name is perpetuated in world history. Then the Surah proceeds to give reasons why believers triumph over disbelievers and why the latter invariably perish in their struggle against the former. It illustrates this Divine practice by referring to different peoples who were once mighty in power and strong in numbers, but who met with destruction when they rose against the apparently humble followers of God's Messengers. Among them are mentioned the peoples of Noah, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Lot 1305