Lessons From the Past:

Noah, Hud, Saleh, Lot, Shu’aib

Cont’d from page 3

Lot, like Saleh, was given knowledge of the future. God’s messengers told him to leave during the night because the annihilation of the community was coming in the morning (11:81, 15:66). The community was turned upside down as retribution (11:82, 15:74). They were showered with a miserable shower of rocks “marked by your Lord for the transgressors” (51:33-4, 54:34, 25:40, 26:173).

Finally we have Shu’aib, whose people were the dwellers of the woods, the community of Midyan. God made them a prosperous community, but instead of being appreciative, they became greedy for more. They cheated in their business dealings, corrupted the earth (7:85, 11:84-5), and repelled from the path of God (7:86). To them, Shu’aib’s tribe was more important than God, and that respect for his tribe was all that kept them from killing him (11:91-2).

The retribution that struck Midyan is referred to as the “Day of the Canopy” (26:189). It was an earthquake that left them dead in their homes (7:91, 29:37). Then, God says, “Those who rejected Shu’aib vanished, as if they never existed” (7:92, 11:95).

Moses was one of many messengers who came after them. God’s system is unchangeable. These communities are important for us. We must study the evils they committed, the sins we are thus taught to avoid – idol worship, homosexuality, corruption, cheating, vice. And we must learn from these lessons, or we will be among future communities that practice the same evils.

“Does it ever occur to them how many previous generations we have annihilated? They are now walking in the homes of those before them. These are signs for those who possess intelligence.” (20:128)

 “This should be a lesson for everyone who possesses a mind, or is able to hear and witness.” (50:37)

Lydia

[9:70]  Have they not learned anything from the previous generations; the people of Noah, `Aad, Thamood, the people of Abraham, the dwellers of Midyan, and the evildoers (of Sodom and Gomorrah)? Their messengers went to them with clear proofs. GOD never wronged them; they are the ones who wronged their own souls.

[11:116]  If only some of those among the previous generations possessed enough intelligence to forbid evil! Only a few of them deserved to be saved by us. As for the transgressors, they were preoccupied with their material luxuries; they were guilty.

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