The Causes of the Destruction of the Disbelievers from the People of Hud (peace be upon him);
Criminality
Selections from the Book Prophet Hud (peace be upon him) And the Causes for the Demise of the Civilization of the People of Aad…
Written by Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi...
Episode (19)
Criminality is similar to oppression, encompassing shirk (associating partners with Allah) and other sins. Shirk is the most heinous and severe form of criminality. The polytheist commits a grave injustice against their Lord by making someone unworthy of worship, worthy of worship alongside Allah, who alone deserves worship. The polytheist also commits a crime against themselves by degrading their soul to worship other than Allah, leading them to destruction in this world and to a miserable fate in the Hereafter. Al-Firuz Abadi mentioned six meanings of "criminality", and he placed shirk as the first of them, saying in his commentary on the meanings of crime: "The first is crime meaning shirk, and the criminal is the polytheist". Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) mentions the fate of past nations that were destroyed due to their crimes: {Say, [O Muhammad], "Proceed [i.e., travel] through the land and observe how was the end of the criminals."} [An-Naml: 69].
This bad outcome only befell them because of their crime, and the worst of crimes is shirk with Allah Almighty. Allah Almighty also says: {And We have already sent messengers before you to their peoples, and they came to them with clear evidences; then We took retribution from those who committed crimes, and incumbent upon Us was support of the believers.} [Ar-Rum: 47]. The vengeance was upon them because of their criminality against their Creator by committing shirk, and against their prophets by denying and opposing them.
Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) describes the people of ‘Aad as criminals in the Holy Qur’an: {And they became so that nothing was seen [of them] except their dwellings. Thus do We recompense the criminal people.} [Al-Ahqaf: 25]. This was due to their crime and oppression.
- Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi, Prophet Hud (peace be upon him) And the Causes for the Demise of the Civilization of the People of Aad, pp. 19-21.
- Insights of the Discerning, Al-Fayruzabadi, 2/255.
- Reasons for the destruction of previous nations, p. 114.
- Saadi’s Interpretation, p. 1057.
For further information and review of the sources for the article, see:
The Book of Prophet Hud (peace be upon him) And the Causes for the Demise of the Civilization of the People of Aad on the official website of Sheikh Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi:
