وَإِن يُكَذِّبُوكَ فَقَدْ كَذَّبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ وَعَادٌ وَثَمُودُ · وَقَوْمُ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ وَقَوْمُ لُوطٍ · وَأَصْحَٰبُ مَدْيَنَ وَكُذِّبَ مُوسَىٰ فَأَمْلَيْتُ لِلْكَٰفِرِينَ ثُمَّ أَخَذْتُهُمْ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ نَكِيرِ · فَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَٰهَا وَهِىَ ظَالِمَةٌ فَهِىَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا وَبِئْرٍ مُّعَطَّلَةٍ وَقَصْرٍ مَّشِيدٍ
Wa in yukadhdhibūka fa-qad kadhdhabat qablahum qawmu Nūḥin wa ʿĀdun wa Thamūd · Wa qawmu Ibrāhīma wa qawmu Lūṭ · Wa aṣḥābu Madyan · Wa kudhdhiba Mūsā fa-amlaytu li'l-kāfirīna thumma akhadhtuhum · Fa-kayfa kāna nakīr · Fa-ka-ayyin min qaryatin ahlaknāhā wa hiya ẓālimatun fa-hiya khāwiyatun ʿalā ʿurūshihā wa biʾrin muʿaṭṭalatin wa qaṣrin mashīd
"If they deny you — before them the people of Noah (Nūḥ), ʿĀd, Thamūd, the people of Abraham, the people of Lot (Lūṭ) and the inhabitants of Madyan denied too. Moses (Mūsā) too was denied. I granted the disbelievers a respite, then I seized them. How was My rejection of them! How many a town We destroyed while it was doing wrong: now it stands with its roofs fallen in; and how many an abandoned well, how many a lofty palace!"
| Order | Name | How it is named |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qawmu Nūḥ | By the name of the people |
| 2 | ʿĀd | Directly by the name of the people |
| 3 | Thamūd | Directly by the name of the people |
| 4 | Qawmu Ibrāhīm | By the name of the people |
| 5 | Qawmu Lūṭ | By the name of the people |
| 6 | Aṣḥābu Madyan | By the name of a place |
| 7 | Wa kudhdhiba Mūsā | By the prophet's name — and in a separate sentence |
The seventh item breaks the pattern of the list, and this is an observation about word order: in the first six the denying party is the subject (kadhdhabat); with Moses the verb is passive and Moses becomes the subject (wa kudhdhiba Mūsā).
His people are not named. In the classical commentaries the reason given is that those who denied Moses were not his own people alone. I transmit this as a report.
فَأَمْلَيْتُ — root م-ل-و/م-ل-ي: to draw out, to give time. Malā — a long stretch of time. The verb means "I granted a respite".
And the person of the verbs must be recorded: amlaytu, akhadhtuhum — first person singular. Where "We" is mostly used throughout the sūra, "I" comes here. This is an iltifāt, and it makes the ruling singular.
نَكِير — root ن-ك-ر: to refuse to recognise, to reject. The construct kayfa kāna nakīr — "how was their refusal to recognise Me?" or "how was My rejection of them?" Both readings are possible, and the lexicographers record both.
عُرُوش — its singular ʿarsh: a roof, a covered structure. The same word is used for "throne" as well.
The construct is, exactly: "fallen in upon its roofs". The walls have collapsed, the roof has come down to the ground, and the rubble lies beneath the roof.
I record this as an observation: the verse gives the order of the ruin. First the wall goes, then the roof falls upon it. The last thing standing, then, is the thing on top.
| Structure | Attribute | What it conveys |
|---|---|---|
| بِئْر — a well | Muʿaṭṭala — idle, abandoned | Sunk in the ground, modest, giving life |
| قَصْر — a palace | Mashīd — raised up, plastered | Built high, imposing |
The root ع-ط-ل: to stand empty, to be without function; to be unadorned (ʿāṭil — a woman without ornaments).
The root ش-ي-د: to raise up; and shīd — lime, plaster. Mashīd therefore means both "raised" and "plastered".
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the contrast of the two objects: the verse has chosen two extremes — the lowest structure (a well) and the highest structure (a palace). One carries water, that is, life; the other displays power. And both are named in the same end.
And what is striking is this: of the well it is not said "it was pulled down", but "it was left idle". The well is still standing — but there is no one to use it. Desolation, that is, is counted as an item separate from destruction.