25.Surah Al Furqan

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَقَوْمَ نُوحٍ لَّمَّا كَذَّبُوا الرُّسُلَ أَغْرَقْنَاهُمْ وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ لِلنَّاسِ آيَةً...

25: 37. And the people of Noah -- when they rejected the messengers, We drowned them, and We made them as a Sign for mankind;

C3093. The stories of Noah, of the prophets of 'Ad and Thamud (and of other prophets), in the reactions of their communities to their teaching are told in 26:105-159.

Here they are just mentioned to illustrate how little respect past ages had for their prophets and teachers of Truth. But Allah's Truth did not suffer: it was the blind rejecters of spiritual Truth who were wiped out.

... وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا ﴿٣٧﴾

and We have prepared for (all) wrongdoers a grievous Penalty --

وَعَادًا وَثَمُودَ وَأَصْحَابَ الرَّسِّ وَقُرُونًا بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ كَثِيرًا ﴿٣٨﴾

25: 38. As also 'Ad and Thamud, and the Companions of the Rass, and many a generation between them.

C3094. Commentators are not clear as to who the "Companions of the Rass" were. The root meaning of "rass" is an old well or shallow water-pit. Another root connects it with the burial of the dead. But it is probably the name of a town or place.

The "Companions of the Rass" may well have been the people of Shu'aib, as they are here mentioned with the 'Ad, the Thamud, and Lut's people, and the people of Shu'aib are mentioned in a similar connection in 26:176-190 and in 11:84-95.

Shu'aib was the prophet of the Madyan people in the north-west of Arabia, where many old wells are found. There is however an oasis town al-Rass in the district of Qasim in Middle Najd, about thirty-five miles south-west of the town of 'Unaiza, reputed to be the central point of the Arabian Peninsula, and situated midway between Makkah and Basra.

See Doughly's Arabia Deserts, thin-paper one-volume edition, London 1926, 11, 435 and Map, Lat. 26*N., and Long. 43*E.

وَكُلًّا ضَرَبْنَا لَهُ الْأَمْثَالَ...

25: 39. To each one We set forth parables and examples;

... وَكُلًّا تَبَّرْنَا تَتْبِيرًا ﴿٣٩﴾

and each one We broke to utter annihilation (for their sins).

Asad’s Version:

25:37

And [think of] the people of Noah: when they gave the lie to [one of] the apostles, We caused them to drown, and made them a symbol for all mankind: for, grievous suffering have We readied for all who [knowingly] do wrong!

(25:38) And [remember how We punished the tribes of] Ad and Thamud, and the people of Ar-Rass, 33 and many generations [of sinners] in- between:

(25:39) and unto each of them did We proffer lessons, 34 and each of them did We destroy with utter destruction.

[Asad’s notes - 32 For this rendering of the term wazir, see note 18 on 20:29. The mention, at this place, of Moses and Aaron - and of Noah, etc., in the following verses - is intended to remind us of the statement in verse 31 above that "against every prophet We have set up enemies from among those who are lost 33 Regarding the tribes of Ad and Thamud, see surah 7, notes 48 and 56. As for Ar-Rass, a town of that name exists to this day in the Central- Arabian province of Al-Qasim; in the ancient times referred to it seems to have been inhabited by descendants of the Nabataean tribe of Thamud Tabari). There is, however no agreement among the commentators as to the real meaning of this name or designation; Razi cites several of the current, conflicting interpretations and rejects all of them as purely conjectural.

34 Sc, "which they failed to heed". For my rendering of mathal, in this context, as "lesson see note 104 on 17:89. ]]