It was a loud crack of thunder. A deafening shout sufficient to burst the eardrums. An endless rattling of the earth. Violent commotion. Fire, ash and lava from all directions. The last breath of man. And then silence. Absolute utter silence. Not even the sound of a heartbeat. As if nothing ever lived.
It is said that history repeats itself. How often have the nations of old been destroyed; those who made the life of this world their top concern and forgot all about Allah? They were given numerous chances to abandon their evil ways, turn back to Allah with sincere repentance and become obedient to Him. But each time they rejected the warnings and refused to pay attention, preferring worldly life over the life of the Hereafter.
The People of ‘Ad
Let us travel back in time, hundreds of years ago when the nation of ‘Ad was still thriving. A civilization of people who were powerful not just in wealth and authority but also in their physical build and stature. They constructed monuments on mountains after spending excessively on themselves and misused their power to attack and threaten neighbouring tribes. And though it might seem that such abundance of wealth, resources and luxuries would make one soft, it did not, in the case of the people of ‘Ad.
It was indeed Allah who gave them all the strength and power that they possessed but instead of being grateful, they rejected Allah. Prophet Hud (a.s.) was sent as a warner to them but they belied him. He promised them that if they do not mend their ways, they will be struck by a severe punishment. Even so, they refused to listen, rather asked to see a punishment that was strong enough to destroy their colossal empire.
So it was, and they were seized by a long drought. But this was just the beginning. The real punishment from Allah came in the form of violent hurricane winds that pounded them nonstop for eight days and seven nights! Sharp and bitter cold winds together with sand storms that left nothing in their path by the time it was over. All was lost. From a land of lofty pillars, it became a land of mere sand dunes. Off with the people of ‘Ad!
The People of Thamud
The people of Thamud came a few generations after the people of ‘Ad, but sadly enough they did not learn from the mistakes of their forefathers. They were a corrupt people who instead of fixing their own character and being obedient to Allah, started building palaces inside of mountains, thinking that the punishment of Allah will never be able to reach them there. After all, who had ever heard of winds destroying mountains?
Prophet Saleh (a.s.) asked them to fear Allah and made them aware of the fact that they will be held accountable for their actions on the Day of Judgement. They asked to see proofs and clear signs, so by the permission of Allah, Saleh (a.s.) miraculously produced a female camel out of a rock! Everyone was shocked to see this fascinating wonder. They were given clear instructions that the camel was not to be hurt or harmed in any way, nor was it to be stopped from feeding or drinking. But the people wanted to get rid of this miracle of Allah as soon as possible. As long as the camel remained alive, everyone would know that Saleh (a.s.) had been speaking the truth all along. A group of them began to plot and so one night, they finally managed to kill the camel while everyone was still asleep. Upon hearing the news, they were warned of the punishment of Allah but they laughed and joked and instead began to plot another killing; this time of Saleh (a.s.) and his family.
It is said that history repeats itself. How often have the nations of old been destroyed; those who made the life of this world their top concern and forgot all about Allah? They were given numerous chances to abandon their evil ways, turn back to Allah with sincere repentance and become obedient to Him. But each time they rejected the warnings and refused to pay attention, preferring worldly life over the life of the Hereafter.
The People of ‘Ad
Let us travel back in time, hundreds of years ago when the nation of ‘Ad was still thriving. A civilization of people who were powerful not just in wealth and authority but also in their physical build and stature. They constructed monuments on mountains after spending excessively on themselves and misused their power to attack and threaten neighbouring tribes. And though it might seem that such abundance of wealth, resources and luxuries would make one soft, it did not, in the case of the people of ‘Ad.
It was indeed Allah who gave them all the strength and power that they possessed but instead of being grateful, they rejected Allah. Prophet Hud (a.s.) was sent as a warner to them but they belied him. He promised them that if they do not mend their ways, they will be struck by a severe punishment. Even so, they refused to listen, rather asked to see a punishment that was strong enough to destroy their colossal empire.
So it was, and they were seized by a long drought. But this was just the beginning. The real punishment from Allah came in the form of violent hurricane winds that pounded them nonstop for eight days and seven nights! Sharp and bitter cold winds together with sand storms that left nothing in their path by the time it was over. All was lost. From a land of lofty pillars, it became a land of mere sand dunes. Off with the people of ‘Ad!
The People of Thamud
The people of Thamud came a few generations after the people of ‘Ad, but sadly enough they did not learn from the mistakes of their forefathers. They were a corrupt people who instead of fixing their own character and being obedient to Allah, started building palaces inside of mountains, thinking that the punishment of Allah will never be able to reach them there. After all, who had ever heard of winds destroying mountains?
Prophet Saleh (a.s.) asked them to fear Allah and made them aware of the fact that they will be held accountable for their actions on the Day of Judgement. They asked to see proofs and clear signs, so by the permission of Allah, Saleh (a.s.) miraculously produced a female camel out of a rock! Everyone was shocked to see this fascinating wonder. They were given clear instructions that the camel was not to be hurt or harmed in any way, nor was it to be stopped from feeding or drinking. But the people wanted to get rid of this miracle of Allah as soon as possible. As long as the camel remained alive, everyone would know that Saleh (a.s.) had been speaking the truth all along. A group of them began to plot and so one night, they finally managed to kill the camel while everyone was still asleep. Upon hearing the news, they were warned of the punishment of Allah but they laughed and joked and instead began to plot another killing; this time of Saleh (a.s.) and his family.
Before they could ever reach the culmination of their evil plots, the punishment of Allah enveloped them from all sides. A single blast, a shout, that killed them while they were still in their dwellings. They thought their palaces were strong inside mountains but all it took was a sound wave to finish them where they lay. For them it was difficult, near impossible to imagine, but for Allah it was easy. Off with the people of Thamud!
Fir’aun and his armies
In all Abrahamic faiths, the story of Musa (a.s.) and Fir’aun (Pharoah) is well known. Although there is a huge “charge sheet” against Fir’aun for all the wrong that he did i.e. from killing young boys to the severe torturing and dismemberment of slaves, however when Allah commands Musa (a.s.) to go to Fir’aun, He mentions only one major problem with Fir’aun.
Fir’aun and his armies
In all Abrahamic faiths, the story of Musa (a.s.) and Fir’aun (Pharoah) is well known. Although there is a huge “charge sheet” against Fir’aun for all the wrong that he did i.e. from killing young boys to the severe torturing and dismemberment of slaves, however when Allah commands Musa (a.s.) to go to Fir’aun, He mentions only one major problem with Fir’aun.
“Go to Fir'aun (Pharaoh), verily, he has transgressed all bounds.” [an-Naziaat 79:17]
Meaning that the reason why Fir’aun was such a tyrant and oppressive ruler was because he had crossed all bounds in disobedience to Allah. He has no respect for the laws laid down by Allah and thought of himself as above and beyond all of them.
Although we might not be as bad as Fir’aun but sometimes we too can develop the habit of knowing the commands of Allah but not obeying them. When we know that Allah has ordered something for us but we would rather do something else. This type of attitude can lead to a “Fir’aunic” state of mind. Remember, Fir’aun was not born a tyrant – for all we know he could have been a very cute baby; but he had to lead his whole life in rebellion against Allah to reach the level he had attained.
His sorry end came when he drowned at sea along with his massive armies which he was so proud of. Such is the end of the arrogant transgressors. Off with the Fir’aun and his armies!
Important Lessons
Often people tend to busy themselves with “how” it all happened. Was it an earthquake? Was it a volcanic eruption? Was it a shift of the earth’s crust? What if they had better construction material? What if they had an early warning system? Strangely enough the Qur’an does not answer these questions nor addresses them in any way. Instead it shifts our focus towards “why” it all happened. That is, why did Allah punish these people? And for us, this is a great place to start our questioning.
What were the crimes of the destroyed nations of the past? Here is a brief list:
• They were proud and arrogant of their wealth, power and lavish lifestyle.
• They thought this life would never end and that they will never be held accountable for what they are doing.
• They forgot all about Allah and did not give thanks to Him for all the blessings that they had been given.
• They didn’t find anything wrong with what they were doing, thinking that “might is right”. Thus, they refused to do istighfar i.e. to repent for this sins and transgressions.
Know that these nations had the best of everything that this world can offer yet by the time it was over nothing remained. Today we think that we have the best of everything, the question is, will we follow in the footsteps of the destroyed nations or are we better than that?
“O mankind! Your rebellion (disobedience to Allah) is only against your ownselves, - a brief enjoyment of this worldly life, then to Us is your return, and We shall inform you that which you used to do. [Yunus 10:23]
No comments:
Post a Comment