وَلَقَدۡ

أَرۡسَلۡنَآ

إِلَىٰ

ثَمُودَ

أَخَاهُمۡ

صَٰلِحًا

أَنِ

ٱعۡبُدُواْ

ٱللَّهَ

فَإِذَا

هُمۡ

فَرِيقَانِ

يَخۡتَصِمُونَ

٤٥

And We certainly sent to the people of Thamûd their brother Ṣâliḥ, proclaiming, “Worship Allah,” but they suddenly split into two opposing groups.¹

He urged ˹the disbelieving group˺, “O my people! Why do you ˹seek to˺ hasten the torment¹ rather than grace?² If only you sought Allah’s forgiveness so you may be shown mercy!”

They replied, “You and your followers are a bad omen for us.”¹ He responded, “Your omens are destined by Allah. In fact, you are ˹only˺ a people being tested.”

And there were in the city nine ˹elite˺ men who spread corruption in the land, never doing what is right.

They vowed, “Let us swear by Allah that we will take him and his family down by night. Then we will certainly say to his ˹closest˺ heirs, ‘We did not witness the murder of his family. We are definitely telling the truth.’”

And ˹so˺ they made a plan, but We too made a plan, while they were unaware.

See then what the consequences of their plan were: We ˹utterly˺ destroyed them and their people all together.

So their homes are there, ˹but completely˺ ruined because of their wrongdoing. Surely in this is a lesson for people of knowledge.

And We delivered those who were faithful and were mindful ˹of Allah˺.