Ash-Shams 91:11 - Linguistic Miracle

Thamud denied because of its Taghwa

Allah now presents an example of what happens when this balance is broken with Thamūd serving as a case study.

The pronoun goes back to the soul. Thamūd denied (God and his prophet Ṣāliḥ)

because of the Taghwa of the soul. Taghwa is the verbal noun of ṭāghīn which we

have covered earlier. It means exceeding limits and overwhelming something.

Originally, it was used for the peak of a mountain and for water to submerge and overwhelm its surroundings inside it. We have covered this earlier. Recall the oaths. By the Day as it gives it (the sun) glory. By the night as it covers it. Look at the second oath - by the night as it covers the sun. Is that not exactly what

Taghwa means? The night overwhelms and covers the sun. Or in other words, darkness overwhelms and engulfs the source of light.

This is exactly what thamūd did. They let the darkness inside them overwhelm the light. They were meant to maintain balance between their bodily and spiritual needs but they let their desires overwhelm and take over their hearts and hence broke the balance.