Arabic poetry as source of information for the accurate interpretation of the Holy Quran
Arabs, like other nations and people, preserved their history through poetry. This article briefly illustrates the use of information from such poems in the accurate interpretation of the Holy Book of Islam, the Quran.
The history of the Arabs before Islam is narrated in the Quran. Whilst these revelations by Allah, called Qisas Al-Anbiyaa (Stories of the Prophets), represent the best historical accounts at times, they do not tell everything. Some vital information are left out to be filled by scholars.
These in my view are deliberate acts by Allah so that man may be given the opportunity of using his talents and God-given intelligence in searching for the ultimate truth. We will give a demonstration of these information obtained from poetry by citing the example of the Prophet Shuaib and the Midianites as narrated in the Quran.
As we learn from the Holy Book, the Midianites were a very prosperous and rich nation but indulged excessively in the evils of trade mal-practices. For example they were great experts in the hoarding of goods, including cereals, just to cause shortage and raise prices. The Prophet Shuaib was then sent to them by Allah to wean them from their cheating practices and idol worship. After all the efforts by Shuaib, he failed God and then threatened them with divine punishment that was meted out to them according to the revelation: ‘’so they rejected him.”
Then the punishment of the day of heavy clouds (Yaum Al-Alzullat) overtook them. That was indeed the punishment of a dreadful day’’ (Quran 26:190). The word Al-Zullat means cloud and is the singular form of Zillal, the plura. You can appreciate the fact that the words ‘’Yaum Al-Zullat ‘’meaning ‘’ Day of cloud ‘’ or ‘’Day of overshadowing cloud’’ hardly reveals anything about the nature of the punishment inflicted on the Midianite. We can only infer that the punishment was in the form of the cloud or clouds and no more. Anything beyond this point is mere conjecturing.
Searching through history books, we come across this poem from which information about the nature of the punishment can be obtained. The poem was actually written by a sister whose brother, a king of the Midiants, was killed in the incidence of the overshadowing cloud. It reads as follows:
1. Kalamun has shattered my hopes. By his death in the middle of the residences 2. Leader of the people. Death snatched him away as fire hidden in the midst of a cloud. 3. It then turned into actual fire on them. 4. Their homes were brought to naught.
The poem mentions the king’s name as Kalamun who was the Midianite king in the time of the Prophet Shuiab when the destruction took place. From the rest of the poem it is clear that fire was unleashed on the king and the rest of the Midiantes from the middle of a cloud that overshadowed them.
This description is corroborated by the views of such Companions and their followers as: Ibn Abass, Mujahid, Ibn Zaid etc. They are all unanimous that when Allah wanted to punish the Midianites, He caused the sun to shine intently on them that day in such a way that they could not bear the excessive heat. So they left their homes and fled to the natural environment. Over there, they saw some heavy clouds which they thought could give them shade. When they took shelter underneath it, they began to enjoy its coolness and breeze, so they invited the rest of the Midianite to come and enjoy its comfort with them. When all were gathered beneath it a fire, hidden in the middle, was suddenly unleashed on them. They were all roasted and burnt to death.
According to Ibn Abass: ‘’Any Scholar who says that there was no punishment on the day of the clouds, has indeed denied it.”
Conclusion:
Information from the poem corroborated by views of the Companions on the history of the incidence has shed full light on the meaning of the Quranic words ‘’Day of the clouds’’ to mean that the Midianites were punished by a fire hidden in the middle of a huge and intense cloud underneath which they were taking shelter from an intense heat.
BY KHALID KOFI AHMAD