تِسْعَةُ رَ‌هْطٍ (nine persons - 27:48). The word رَ‌هْطٍ (Raht) is used for a group. Here each of the nine persons is called Raht presumably because they were regarded superior among their clan for having wealth and dignity. Each one of them had his own separate group of people, hence they are called nine groups. They were known as the chiefs of Hijr, which was a city of the people of Salih (علیہ السلام) . Hijr was a well-known city of Syria.