When they appealed to their Lord for victory against those who had denied Him, disbelieved in Him, and defied His Messenger, the unbelievers still persisted, obstinately clinging to the falsehood in which they were immersed. The haughty chiefs among his people who disbelieved declared,

“If you follow Shuʿayb, you will surely be the losers.”
(al-Aʿrāf 7:90)

Allah, exalted is He, then said:

“So the earthquake seized them, and by morning they were lying lifeless in their homes, fallen upon their knees.”
(al-Aʿrāf 7:91)

In Sūrat al-Aʿrāf He states that they were seized by a tremor: the very earth beneath them shook violently, wrenching their souls from their bodies. It rendered every living creature in their land as inert as stone, and their corpses lay slumped, devoid of life, movement, or sensation.

Allah combined against them many kinds of punishment, varied forms of retribution, and diverse calamities. Because they were marked by vile qualities, He unleashed upon them a severe quake that halted all motion, a deafening blast that silenced every voice, and a cloud whose edges showered sparks of fire from every direction.

The Most High recounts their fate in each sūrah in the manner most suited to its context and harmonious with its flow. In the account of al-Aʿrāf they had alarmed Allah’s Prophet and his followers, threatening to expel them from their town unless they returned to their religion. Thus He said, “So the earthquake seized them…,” matching their intimidation (irjāf) with an earthquake (rajfa) and their fear-mongering with fear itself—perfectly in keeping with the passage.

In Sūrat Hūd He relates that they were overtaken by “the blast,” so that they lay lifeless in their dwellings. This is because they had said to Allah’s Prophet in mockery and contempt:

“Does your prayer command you that we abandon what our forefathers worshipped, or that we do with our wealth whatever we please? You are indeed the forbearing, the rightly-guided!”
(Hūd 11:87)

It therefore suited the text to mention the deafening cry, a rebuke that silenced the vile speech they had flung at this noble, trustworthy, and eloquent Messenger. A scream overtook them and stilled them, together with a quake that immobilised them.

In Sūrat al-Shuʿarā’ He mentions that they were seized by “the punishment of the Day of the Canopy,” in direct response to what they themselves had demanded. They had said:

“You are but one of the bewitched;
you are only a man like us, and we think you are certainly among the liars.
So make pieces of the sky fall upon us, if you are truthful.”
He said, “My Lord knows best what you do.”
(al-Shuʿarā’ 26:185-188)

Allah then declared:

“So they denied him, and the punishment of the Day of the Canopy overtook them—indeed, it was the punishment of a mighty day.”
(al-Shuʿarā’ 26:189)

Some commentators, such as Qatādah and others, have claimed that the People of the Thicket (Ashāb al-Aykah) were a nation distinct from the people of Midian, but this view is weak. They base their opinion on two points:

1. Allah says, “The People of the Thicket rejected the messengers, when Shuʿayb said to them…” (al-Shuʿarā’ 26:176-177) and does not say “their brother,” whereas He says, “And to Midian, their brother Shuʿayb” (al-Aʿrāf 7:85);

2. He mentions their punishment as the Day of the Canopy, while in the other passages He mentions the earthquake or the blast.

The answer to the first is that He did not mention brotherhood after His words, “The People of the Thicket rejected the messengers” (al-Shuʿarā’ 26:176)