Transliteration:( Kazzabat qablahum qawmu Noohinw wa Ashaabur Rassi wa Samood )
21. In this territory of Aden was a well near which existed a settlement, the name of which was Rass. The king of this place was Alees. When he died, the devil got into his body and began to talk. Seeing this, the people began to worship him. Hazrat Hanzalah bin Safwaan was sent as a Prophet to them, but instead of obeying him, the people severely tortured and killed him.
After this Divine punishment came down upon them. The water of the well sank into the ground, as a result of which these people and their animals became terribly uncomfortable and eventually, they too were sunk into the ground (Tafseer Roohul Mu'ani and Khazainul Irfaan).
12. Denied before them the people of Nuh, and the Dwellers of Rass, and Thamud, 13. And `Ad, and Fir`awn, and the brethren of Lut, 14. And the Dwellers of Al-Aykah, and the people of Tubba`. Everyone of them denied (their) Messengers, so My threat took effect. 15. Were We then tired with the first creation Nay, they are in confused doubt about a new creation.
Allah the Exalted warns the disbelievers of Quraysh and reminds them of the punishment and painful torment that He sent in this life on their likes, who disbelieved before them. For instance, Allah the Exalted punished the people of Nuh by drowning them in the encompassing flood that touched all the people of earth. There is also the end that struck the people of Ar-Rass, and we mentioned their story before in Surat Al-Furqan,
(…and Thamud, and `Ad, and Fir`awn, and the brethren of Lut,) the people of Sadum (Sodom) and the surrounding areas, to whom Lut was sent. Allah the Exalted shook the earth beneath them and turned their area into a reeking lake, as stinking as the disbelief, tyranny and defiance of the Truth that they had,
(And the Dwellers of Al-Aykah), they are the nation of Shu`ayb, peace be upon him,
(and the people of Tubba`), King of Yemen; we explained his story in the Tafsir of Surat Ad-Dukhan, and therefore, we do not need to repeat it here. All praise is due to Allah.
(Everyone of them denied (their) Messengers,) means, all of these nations and their generations belied their respective Messenger, and whoever denies even one Messenger, is as if he has denied all Messengers. Allah the Exalted and Most Honored said,
(The people of Nuh denied the Messengers.)(26:105) even though only one Messenger was sent to them, and indeed, if all the Messengers were sent to them, they would have disbelieved in them as well. Allah said,
(so My threat took effect.) meaning, the promise of torment and punishment that Allah delivered to them on account of their denial took effect. Therefore, all those who fear suffering the same end should be warned, especially since the latter have denied their Messenger, just as the former denied their Messenger.
Allah the Exalted said,
(Were We then tired with the first creation) meaning, `did starting the creation bring fatigue to Us, so as to cause doubt in them that repeating the creation was not possible’
(Nay, they are in confused doubt about a new creation.) meaning, `starting the creation did not tire Us, and repeating it is even easier.’ Allah the Exalted and Most Honored said,
(And He it is Who originates the creation, then He will repeat it; and this is easier for Him.)(30:27), and,
(And he puts forth for Us a parable, and forgets his own creation. He says: “Who will give life to these bones after they are rotten and have become dust” Say: “He will give life to them Who created them for the first time! And He is the All-Knower of every creation!”)(36:78-79) aWe mentioned earlier a Hadith collected in the Sahih,
(Allah the Exalted said, “Son of `Adam insults Me when he says, `He will not resurrect me as He created me before!’ But surely, originating creation is not easier for Me than reproducing it again.”)
(50:12) In the past Noah’s people, and the people of Rass[12] and Thamud gave the lie (to Messengers),
12. Before this the people of Rass (Ashab ar-Rass) have been mentioned in (Surah Al-Furqan, Ayat 38), and now here, but at both places they have been only referred to as of those nations who rejected the Prophets. No other detail about them has been given. In the traditions of Arabia two places are well known by the name of ar-Rass, one in the Najd and the other in northern Hejaz. Of these ar-Rass of the Najd is better known and has been referred to more often in the pre-Islamic poetry of Arabia. Now it is difficult to determine which of these was the home of the Ashab ar- Rass. No reliable detail of their story is found in any tradition either. The most that one can say with certainty is that it was a nation which had thrown its Prophet into a well. But from the mere allusion that has been made to them in the Quran, one is led to think that in the time of the revelation of the Quran the Arabs were generally aware of this nation and its history, but the traditions about them could not be preserved in historic records.
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