وَإِلَىٰ عَادٍ أَخَاهُمْ هُودًۭا ۚ قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُۥٓ ۖ إِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلَّا مُفْتَرُونَ
And to ‘Ad [We sent] Hud, their brother. He said, ‘O my people! Worship Allah. You have no other god besides Him: you merely fabricate [the deities that you worship].
يَٰقَوْمِ لَآ أَسْـَٔلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا ۖ إِنْ أَجْرِىَ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱلَّذِى فَطَرَنِىٓ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
‘O my people! I do not ask you any reward for it. My reward lies only with Him who originated me. Do you not exercise your reason?
وَيَٰقَوْمِ ٱسْتَغْفِرُوا۟ رَبَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُوبُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِ يُرْسِلِ ٱلسَّمَآءَ عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَارًۭا وَيَزِدْكُمْ قُوَّةً إِلَىٰ قُوَّتِكُمْ وَلَا تَتَوَلَّوْا۟ مُجْرِمِينَ
‘O my people! Plead with your Lord for forgiveness, then turn to Him penitently: He will send copious rains for you from the sky, and add power to your [present] power. So do not turn your backs [on Him] as guilty ones.’
قَالُوا۟ يَٰهُودُ مَا جِئْتَنَا بِبَيِّنَةٍۢ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِتَارِكِىٓ ءَالِهَتِنَا عَن قَوْلِكَ وَمَا نَحْنُ لَكَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ
They said, ‘O Hud, you have not brought us any manifest proof. We are not going to abandon our gods for what you say, and we are not going to believe you.
إِن نَّقُولُ إِلَّا ٱعْتَرَىٰكَ بَعْضُ ءَالِهَتِنَا بِسُوٓءٍۢ ۗ قَالَ إِنِّىٓ أُشْهِدُ ٱللَّهَ وَٱشْهَدُوٓا۟ أَنِّى بَرِىٓءٌۭ مِّمَّا تُشْرِكُونَ
All we say is that some of our gods have visited you with some evil.’ He said, ‘I call Allah to witness—and you too be [my] witnesses—that I repudiate what you take as [His] partners
مِن دُونِهِۦ ۖ فَكِيدُونِى جَمِيعًۭا ثُمَّ لَا تُنظِرُونِ
besides Him. Now try out your stratagems against me, together, without granting me any respite.
إِنِّى تَوَكَّلْتُ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ رَبِّى وَرَبِّكُم ۚ مَّا مِن دَآبَّةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ ءَاخِذٌۢ بِنَاصِيَتِهَآ ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّى عَلَىٰ صِرَٰطٍۢ مُّسْتَقِيمٍۢ
Indeed I have put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord. There is no living being but He holds it by its forelock. Indeed my Lord is on a straight path.
فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا۟ فَقَدْ أَبْلَغْتُكُم مَّآ أُرْسِلْتُ بِهِۦٓ إِلَيْكُمْ ۚ وَيَسْتَخْلِفُ رَبِّى قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ وَلَا تَضُرُّونَهُۥ شَيْـًٔا ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّى عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ حَفِيظٌۭ
But if you turn your backs [on me], then [know that] I have communicated to you whatever I was sent to you with. My Lord will make another people succeed you, and you will not hurt Allah in the least. Indeed my Lord is watchful over all things.’
وَلَمَّا جَآءَ أَمْرُنَا نَجَّيْنَا هُودًۭا وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَهُۥ بِرَحْمَةٍۢ مِّنَّا وَنَجَّيْنَٰهُم مِّنْ عَذَابٍ غَلِيظٍۢ
When Our edict came, We delivered Hud and the faithful who were with him, by a mercy from Us, and We delivered them from a harsh punishment.
وَتِلْكَ عَادٌۭ ۖ جَحَدُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِ رَبِّهِمْ وَعَصَوْا۟ رُسُلَهُۥ وَٱتَّبَعُوٓا۟ أَمْرَ كُلِّ جَبَّارٍ عَنِيدٍۢ
Such were [the people of] Ad: they impugned the signs of their Lord and disobeyed His apostles, and followed the dictates of every obstinate tyrant.
وَأُتْبِعُوا۟ فِى هَٰذِهِ ٱلدُّنْيَا لَعْنَةًۭ وَيَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ ۗ أَلَآ إِنَّ عَادًۭا كَفَرُوا۟ رَبَّهُمْ ۗ أَلَا بُعْدًۭا لِّعَادٍۢ قَوْمِ هُودٍۢ
So they were pursued by a curse in this world and on the Day of Resurrection. Behold! ‘Ad indeed defied their Lord. Now, away with ‘Ad, the people of Hud!
۞ وَإِلَىٰ ثَمُودَ أَخَاهُمْ صَٰلِحًۭا ۚ قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُۥ ۖ هُوَ أَنشَأَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱسْتَعْمَرَكُمْ فِيهَا فَٱسْتَغْفِرُوهُ ثُمَّ تُوبُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّى قَرِيبٌۭ مُّجِيبٌۭ
And to Thamud [We sent] Salih, their brother. He said, ‘O my people! Worship Allah. You have no other god besides Him. He brought you forth from the earth and made it your habitation. So plead with Him for forgiveness, then turn to Him penitently. My Lord is indeed nearmost [and] responsive.’
قَالُوا۟ يَٰصَٰلِحُ قَدْ كُنتَ فِينَا مَرْجُوًّۭا قَبْلَ هَٰذَآ ۖ أَتَنْهَىٰنَآ أَن نَّعْبُدَ مَا يَعْبُدُ ءَابَآؤُنَا وَإِنَّنَا لَفِى شَكٍّۢ مِّمَّا تَدْعُونَآ إِلَيْهِ مُرِيبٍۢ
They said, ‘O Salih! You were a source of hope to us before this. Do you forbid us to worship what our fathers have been worshiping? Indeed we have grave doubts concerning that to which you invite us.’
قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ أَرَءَيْتُمْ إِن كُنتُ عَلَىٰ بَيِّنَةٍۢ مِّن رَّبِّى وَءَاتَىٰنِى مِنْهُ رَحْمَةًۭ فَمَن يَنصُرُنِى مِنَ ٱللَّهِ إِنْ عَصَيْتُهُۥ ۖ فَمَا تَزِيدُونَنِى غَيْرَ تَخْسِيرٍۢ
He said, ‘O my people! Tell me, should I stand on a manifest proof from my Lord, and He has granted me His own mercy, who will protect me from Allah should I disobey Him? For then you will increase me in nothing but loss.
وَيَٰقَوْمِ هَٰذِهِۦ نَاقَةُ ٱللَّهِ لَكُمْ ءَايَةًۭ فَذَرُوهَا تَأْكُلْ فِىٓ أَرْضِ ٱللَّهِ وَلَا تَمَسُّوهَا بِسُوٓءٍۢ فَيَأْخُذَكُمْ عَذَابٌۭ قَرِيبٌۭ
O my people! This she-camel of Allah is a sign for you. Let her graze [freely] in Allah’s land, and do not cause her any harm, for then you shall be seized by a prompt punishment.’
فَعَقَرُوهَا فَقَالَ تَمَتَّعُوا۟ فِى دَارِكُمْ ثَلَٰثَةَ أَيَّامٍۢ ۖ ذَٰلِكَ وَعْدٌ غَيْرُ مَكْذُوبٍۢ
But they hamstrung her, whereupon he said, ‘Enjoy yourselves in your homes for three days: that is a promise not to be belied!’
فَلَمَّا جَآءَ أَمْرُنَا نَجَّيْنَا صَٰلِحًۭا وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَهُۥ بِرَحْمَةٍۢ مِّنَّا وَمِنْ خِزْىِ يَوْمِئِذٍ ۗ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ ٱلْقَوِىُّ ٱلْعَزِيزُ
So when Our edict came, We delivered Salih and the faithful who were with him by a mercy from Us and from the [punishment and] disgrace of that day. Your Lord is indeed the All-strong, the All-mighty.
وَأَخَذَ ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ ٱلصَّيْحَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا۟ فِى دِيَٰرِهِمْ جَٰثِمِينَ
The Cry seized those who were wrongdoers, and they lay lifeless prostrate in their homes,
كَأَن لَّمْ يَغْنَوْا۟ فِيهَآ ۗ أَلَآ إِنَّ ثَمُودَا۟ كَفَرُوا۟ رَبَّهُمْ ۗ أَلَا بُعْدًۭا لِّثَمُودَ
as if they had never lived there. Behold! Thamud indeed defied their Lord. Now, away with Thamud!
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
After Noah the surah sets two further prophet-cycles side by side, each repeating the same pattern — the call to pure tawḥīd, the chiefs' rejection, the rescue of a believing few, and the destruction of the rest. al-Mīzān notes Hūd is the second prophet, and Ṣāliḥ the third, "to rise against idolatry."
Hūd is sent "to ʿĀd, their brother" — in lineage, not religion, a point al-Burhān preserves through Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn, who answered the charge against his father ʿAlī's wars by citing "their brother Ṣāliḥ / their brother Shuʿayb": brotherhood of tribe, not of faith. His call — "worship God; you have no god but He; you are only forgers" — is followed by "I ask no wage" and the promise that, if they "seek forgiveness then turn to Him," "He will send the sky upon you in abundant rain and add strength to your strength." al-Ṭabarsī, al-Ṭūsī and al-Mīzān all read this against a background of drought, and al-Mīzān draws from it the bond between human deeds and cosmic events (al-Aʿrāf 96). al-Qummī and al-Burhān dramatize the drought with the narrative of the grey, one-eyed woman — Hūd's own wife and "enemy," for whom he prayed long life, "that my enemy be one I have power over is better than one who has power over me." The people answer with flat refusal — "you brought no proof, we will not leave our gods, we do not believe you" — and the taunt, "one of our gods has smitten you with evil." Hūd's reply, "I am quit of what you associate, so scheme against me, all of you, then give me no respite," al-Mīzān reads as carrying both a rational proof (had the idols any power they would have struck him for his disavowal) and a standing miracle (his safety, unharmed, among a mighty people). "I have relied upon God… there is no creature but He holds it by its forelock; my Lord is upon a straight path" — which al-Burhān glosses through ʿAlī: "He is upon truth, requiting good with good and evil with evil, pardoning whom He wills." When ʿĀd persist, God saves Hūd and the believers "by a mercy" and destroys the rest by the barren wind (al-rīḥ al-ṣarṣar) — which al-Qummī and al-Burhān, on al-Bāqir's authority, describe issuing "from beneath the seven earths," loosed only ever upon ʿĀd, "seven nights and eight days."
Ṣāliḥ's cycle turns on a single luminous argument. To "worship God… He produced you from the earth and settled you in it to develop it," al-Mīzān gives its fullest reading: idolatry rests on severing the bond between God and man and fixing it upon supposedly independent intermediaries; but since God Himself produced man and entrusted him the earth, He is near — "my Lord is near, responsive" — and no cause is independent, so He alone must be worshipped. The people answer, "O Ṣāliḥ, you were one we hoped in before this; do you forbid us to worship what our fathers worship?" — and al-Mīzān notes the present tense ("worship," not "worshipped"), the continuous custom binding sons to fathers, faulting al-Manār's misreading; their plea is that his call is a reprehensible innovation destroying Thamūd's identity, and that "we are in disquieting doubt." Ṣāliḥ replies as the prophets do — "who would help me against God if I disobeyed Him?" — and presents the sign: "this is the she-camel of God, a sign for you; let her graze in God's earth, and touch her not with harm." al-Qummī and al-Burhān preserve the vivid back-story — Ṣāliḥ, sent at sixteen and now a hundred and twenty, challenges their seventy idols, which answer nothing; then at the chiefs' demand he prays and a red, ten-months-pregnant she-camel splits forth from the rock; of the seventy witnesses, al-Burhān relates, sixty-four apostatized and one of the remaining six fell to doubt and joined the hamstringers — "Qudār," a bastard "of ill omen." When they hamstring her, Ṣāliḥ says, "Enjoy yourselves in your homes three days; that is a promise not belied" — and al-Ṭabarsī, al-Qummī and al-Burhān record the sign of the three days, their faces yellowing, then reddening, then blackening, before "the Cry" seized them and "they lay in their homes prostrate." al-Ṭabarsī adds the Prophet's own warning at al-Ḥijr during the Tabūk march — not to demand signs, as Thamūd did. Both cycles close on the surah's tolling refrain: "Behold, ʿĀd / Thamūd disbelieved their Lord; away with ʿĀd, the people of Hūd / away with Thamūd."