The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 160
CH. 11 HŪD PT. 12 فَعَقَرُوهَا فَقَالَ تَمَتَّعُوا فِي دَارِكُمْ ;But they hamstrung her. 66 ثَلُثَةَ أَيَّا هِ ذَلِكَ وَعُدَّ غَيْرُ مَكْذُوبِ. in your houses for three days then he said, 'Enjoy yourselves This is a promise which is not a lie. '1446 7:78; 26:158; 54:30; 91:15. Prophet of God have behaved like worldly kings and potentates and let loose animals to go and graze where they chose. The present verse embodies an indirect answer to this question, for it is nowhere mentioned in the verse that Ṣāliḥ's she-camel was to graze in other people's fields. The verse only says, let her alone that she may feed in Allah's earth, which obviously refers to land which was not the private property of any individual. So it was no private land in which, Ṣāliḥ's she-camel was to graze but God's waste, watered with rain from heaven and indebted to no human labour for its cultivation. that brought punishment on his people. See also 7:78. 1446. Important Words: But they hamstrung her). See) فعقروها 7:78. (Enjoy yourselves) may also mean, benefit by the provision Allah has made for men in this world. See also 2:37 & 4:25. كذب a lie is derived from مكذوب It may further be asked why a whole nation was destroyed for killing a mere she-camel. This objection is also based on a clear misconception, for the cause of Divine punishment was not the killing of the she-camel as such but the fact that the killing of the beast constituted an open challenge to threatening his life and declaring that his people were out to defy God's authority. So it was not the killing of the she-camel, but the threat to Ṣāliḥ's own life and the obstruction to his moving about freely in the land with a view to preaching God's word uttered a falsehood; he said what was meaning, inter alia, he lied or he untrue, whether intentionally or unintentionally; he found his hopes false or vain. is synonymous with (kazibun) and means a lie or a falsehood; an untruth, etc. also means, one to whom a lie or قول مكذوب. falsehood or untruth is told (originally ) means, a false saying; a lie (Lane). Commentary: All the precautions which Ṣāliḥ took proved futile. His persecutors assaulted and killed his she-camel and thus challenged and insulted the proclamation of God, consequently bringing on themselves the threatened punishment. 1368 The respite of three days was probably meant as a last chance for repentance of which the unlucky