وَ لَقَدْ And verily اٰتَیْنَا We gave مُوْسَی Musa الْكِتٰبَ the Scripture وَ جَعَلْنَا and We appointed مَعَهٗۤ with him اَخَاهُ his brother هٰرُوْنَ Harun وَزِیْرًاۚۖ (as) an assistant فَقُلْنَا Then We said اذْهَبَاۤ Go both of you اِلَی to الْقَوْمِ the people الَّذِیْنَ those who كَذَّبُوْا have denied بِاٰیٰتِنَا ؕ Our Signs فَدَمَّرْنٰهُمْ Then We destroyed them تَدْمِیْرًاؕ (with) destruction وَ قَوْمَ And (the) people نُوْحٍ (of) Nuh لَّمَّا when كَذَّبُوا they denied الرُّسُلَ the Messengers اَغْرَقْنٰهُمْ We drowned them وَ جَعَلْنٰهُمْ and We made them لِلنَّاسِ for mankind اٰیَةً ؕ a sign وَ اَعْتَدْنَا And We have prepared لِلظّٰلِمِیْنَ for the wrongdoers عَذَابًا a punishment اَلِیْمًاۚۖ painful وَّ عَادًا And Ad وَّ ثَمُوْدَاۡ and Thamud وَ اَصْحٰبَ and (the) dwellers الرَّسِّ (of) Ar-rass وَ قُرُوْنًۢا and generations بَیْنَ between ذٰلِكَ that كَثِیْرًا many وَ كُلًّا And each ضَرَبْنَا We have set forth لَهُ for him الْاَمْثَالَ ؗ the examples وَ كُلًّا and each تَبَّرْنَا We destroyed تَتْبِیْرًا (with) destruction وَ لَقَدْ And verily اَتَوْا they have come عَلَی upon الْقَرْیَةِ the town الَّتِیْۤ which اُمْطِرَتْ was showered مَطَرَ (with) a rain السَّوْءِ ؕ (of) evil اَفَلَمْ Then do not یَكُوْنُوْا they [were] یَرَوْنَهَا ۚ see it بَلْ Nay كَانُوْا they are لَا not یَرْجُوْنَ expecting نُشُوْرًا Resurrection وَ اِذَا And when رَاَوْكَ they see you اِنْ not یَّتَّخِذُوْنَكَ they take you اِلَّا except هُزُوًا ؕ (in) mockery اَهٰذَا Is this الَّذِیْ the one whom بَعَثَ Allah has sent اللّٰهُ Allah has sent رَسُوْلًا (as) a Messenger اِنْ He would have almost كَادَ He would have almost لَیُضِلُّنَا [surely] misled us عَنْ from اٰلِهَتِنَا our gods لَوْ لَاۤ if not اَنْ that صَبَرْنَا we had been steadfast عَلَیْهَا ؕ to them وَ سَوْفَ And soon یَعْلَمُوْنَ will know حِیْنَ when یَرَوْنَ they will see الْعَذَابَ the punishment مَنْ who اَضَلُّ (is) more astray سَبِیْلًا (from the) way اَرَءَیْتَ Have you seen مَنِ (one) who اتَّخَذَ takes اِلٰهَهٗ (as) his god هَوٰىهُ ؕ his own desire اَفَاَنْتَ Then would you تَكُوْنُ be عَلَیْهِ over him وَكِیْلًاۙ a guardian 25. Al-Furqan Page 364 اَمْ Or تَحْسَبُ do you think اَنَّ that اَكْثَرَهُمْ most of them یَسْمَعُوْنَ hear اَوْ or یَعْقِلُوْنَ ؕ understand اِنْ Not هُمْ they اِلَّا (are) except كَالْاَنْعَامِ like cattle بَلْ Nay هُمْ they اَضَلُّ (are) more astray سَبِیْلًا۠ (from the) way
(25:35) Verily We granted Moses the Book48 and appointed his brother Aaron with him as his helper
(25:36) and said to him: "Go the two of you to the people who have given the lie to Our Signs."49 Thereafter We utterly destroyed them.
(25:37) (The same happened with) the people of Noah: when they gave the lie to the Messengers50 We drowned them and made of them a Sign of warning for all mankind. We have kept ready a painful chastisement for the wrong-doers51.
(25:38) And in like manner were the 'Ad and the Thamud destroyed and the people of al-Rass52 and many a nation in the centuries in between.
(25:39) We warned each (of them) by examples (of the nations so destroyed in the past), and We totally annihilated each of them.
(25:40) They have surely passed by the town which was rained upon by an evil rain.53 Have they not seen it? Nay; but they do not believe in being raised up after death.54
(25:41) Whenever they see you they take you for nothing else but an object of jest, saying: "Is this whom Allah has sent as a Messenger?
(25:42) Had we not firmly persevered in our devotion to them55 (he had almost) led us astray from our gods." But soon, when they see the chastisement, they will come to know who had strayed too far from the Right Way.
(25:43) Have you ever considered the case of him who has taken his carnal desire for his god?56 Can you take responsibility for guiding him to the Right Way?
(25:44) Do you think that most of them hear or understand? For they are merely like cattle; nay, even worse than them.57
48. Here "the Book" most probably does not refer to the Torah which was given to Moses after the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. It refers, instead, to the whole body of Guidance which was given to Moses after his designation as a Prophet until the exodus. These include the statements made by Moses in Pharaoh's court and the various instructions given to him by God during his struggle with Pharaoh. These are mentioned several times in the Qur’an. But presumably, these are not included in the Torah which begins with the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses on stone tablets on Mount Sinai. (For the Ten Commandments see the Bible, Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21.)
49. This is an allusion to the verses which had reached those people through the Prophets Jacob and Joseph (peace be on them) and which continued to be preached by pious Israelites.
50. Note that Noah's people rejected the very idea that a human being could be raised as a Messenger. Hence, when they denied his Prophet hood, it was not simply a denial of Noah but a rejection of the institution of Prophet hood itself.
51. This refers to the chastisement to which they will be subjected in the Hereafter.
52. It has not been fully established who "the people of Rass" were. (See Ibn Manzur, Lisản al-'Arab'q.v. RSS-Ed.) Different Qur’anic commentators refer to different traditions about them, but they do not provide any definitive information as to who they were. The most that one can say is that they were a people who had slain their Prophet by casting him into, or hanging him over, a well. It is also worth noting that in Arabic the word rass literally means an old or dry well.
53. This refers to the habitation of the Prophet Lot. As for the "evil rain", this is the rain of stones which is mentioned on many occasions in the Qur'än.
(See for instance Hud 11:82, al-Hijr 15:74, al-Shu'ara' 26:173.) The trade caravans from the Hijaz used to pass by this site enroot to Palestine and Syria. They would not only observe these ruins during their journeys but also hear from the local inhabitant’s narratives about the tragic events leading to the annihilation of the people of Lot
54. Since they did not believe in the Hereafter, they did not learn any lesson from observing those archaeological sites which exemplified the punishment meted out to some of the iniquitous nations of the past. Those who believe in the Hereafter learn a moral lesson from their observations and from these are led to insights about realities that lie beyond the present life. Those who do not believe in the Hereafter observe the ruins of the nations of ancient times simply as spectators and are either entertained by what they see or, at most, are able to weave historical narratives on the basis of their observations.
55. These two statements made by the unbelievers contradict themselves.
The first gives vent to a contemptuous attitude towards the Prophet (peace be on him), and suggests that he claimed for himself a position and status higher than what he warranted. The second, however, betrays that whilst they, themselves, were being swayed by the force of the arguments and the moral strength of the Prophet's personality, their prejudice and adamance nonetheless prompted them to hold on to their idol-worship. These contradictory statements are an obvious proof that the Islamic movement had pulled the rug from under the unbelievers' feet. As a result, they were so bewildered that even when they sought to mock., their tongues involuntarily said things which betrayed how overawed they were by the power and moral superiority of Islam's Message
56. To deify one's carnal desires means to worship those desires, just as one worships an idol or takes some creature as one's deity. Abü Umämah reports that the Prophet (peace be on him) said: "Of all the false gods that are worshipped on earth, the worst in God's sight is one's carnal self". (See Țabarăni, al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, Vol. 8, hadith no. 7502. For more details, see: Towards Understanding the Qur’an, Vol. V, al-Kahf, 18:51, n. 50, p. 113.) The person who keeps his desires under the control of reason and who decides in its light, what is right and what is wrong can be expected to revert to the Right Way even if he were to slide into polytheism or disbelief. Such a person can also be expected to firmly keep to the Straight Path after consciously opting for it.
But the person who is a slave of his carnal desires is like an unfettered animal who moves in whichever direction his desires prompt him. Essentially, he is not interested in distinguishing between Truth and falsehood, between right and wrong. So who can persuade him to commit himself to the Truth? Even if he were to accept the Truth, there is no guarantee he would maintain himself by it.
57. Cattle do not know whether they are being driven towards a pasture on a slaughter house. The same is true of most people: they continue moving ahead under the influence of the satan within them - the satan of desire - and under the influence of their leaders who are wont to misguide them so that they do not know whether they are being driven towards their success or destruction.
Woe to such people, for unlike the cattle, they have been endowed with reason and the ability to think and judge for themselves. Hence, their state is worse than that of cattle.
Let it be clear that this verse is not meant for the Prophet (peace be on him), for if it were, it would mean that the Prophet (peace be on him) was being asked to desist in his efforts to convey his Message to the unbelievers. Rather, the verse is meant for the unbelievers. It asks the unbelievers to waken from their state of negligence and heedlessness and to change their ways which are like those of dumb driven cattle. This they should do for they have been endowed with the ability to think and to reason.