al-Naml 27:45-47

wa laqad arsalnā ilā Thamūda akhāhum Ṣāliḥan ani'budu'llāha fa-idhā hum farīqāni yakhtaṣimūn · qāla yā qawmi lima tastaʿjilūna bi's-sayyiʾati qabla'l-ḥasanati lawlā tastaghfirūna'llāha laʿallakum turḥamūn · qālu'ṭṭayyarnā bika wa bi-man maʿaka, qāla ṭāʾirukum ʿinda'llāh, bal antum qawmun tuftanūn

"We sent to Thamūd their brother Ṣāliḥ, saying: 'Serve God.' And at once they were two factions, contending with one another. He said: 'O my people! Why do you seek to hasten the evil before the good? Why do you not ask God's forgiveness — that you might be shown mercy?' They said: 'We take you and those with you for an ill omen.' He said: 'Your omen is with God. Rather, you are a people under trial.'"

Idhā fujāʾiyya — the particle that conveys "and all at once". This particle was treated in detail in Yāsīn. I do not repeat it here.

And the outcome must be recorded: a single command is given (iʿbudū'llāh), and the community splits in two at once.

I record this as an observation: the verse gives the outcome of the call not as an acceptance or a refusal but as a division. And the verb is one of contention: yakhtaṣimūn — Form VIII, which conveys reciprocity.

The root خ-ص-م: to go to law against one another, to be mutual adversaries. The word also covers a dispute at law.

The sentence is built as a question, and two words are set against one another: sayyiʾa and ḥasana.

Different explanations of what these words mean here are transmitted in the classical commentaries:

The three explanations are close to one another; I do not impose a preference.

And the pattern of the verb must be recorded: tastaʿjilūn — Form X, from the root ع-ج-ل: to ask that a thing come quickly. The pattern puts the weight on the asking itself.

لَوْلَا تَسْتَغْفِرُونَ — lawlā here, at the head of an imperfect verb, conveys urging: "why do you not…". The lexicographers call this usage taḥḍīḍ (a call that mixes urging with reproach).

I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence is built not in the imperative but in the form of an urging. And the return is given not as a certainty but as a hope: laʿallakum turḥamūn — "that you might be shown mercy."

The root ط-ي-ر: to fly. Taṭayyur: a word that comes from the custom of divining by releasing a bird; and from this, "to take something for an ill omen."

This charge was treated in detail in Yāsīn at 36/18-19, and three places were set out in a table there — and this verse was already among them:

And the reading recorded in Yāsīn holds here too; I do not repeat it: the same move recurs in the three narratives — there is a hardship, and the newcomer is pointed to as its cause.

What belongs to al-Naml is the answer given, and it must be recorded:

Both answers use the same word (ṭāʾir) but attach it with different particles: maʿa (accompaniment) and ʿinda (in the presence of). This is a difference between the two sūras that can be verified.

I record this as my own reading: the answer in Yā-Sīn returned the cause to those addressed themselves; the answer in al-Naml says that an omen is not an independent power. The two answers do not contradict each other — one points to the responsibility, the other to the source.

بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ تُفْتَنُونَ — tuftanūn, from the root ف-ت-ن and in the passive: "you are being tested."

The root was treated in al-ʿAnkabūt at 29/2-3 and in al-Burūj: the concrete sense of the root is to put metal into the fire and separate what is pure from the dross. I do not repeat it here.

And that the verb comes in the passive is worth recording, and I give it as an observation about the word order: the sentence says "you are being tested" and does not name the one who tests. The answer thus puts another explanation in the place of the claim about ill omens: what befalls you is not a sign but a test.