“He will precede his people on the Day of Resurrection and lead them into the Fire. Wretched is the place to which they are led! (98) And they are pursued by a curse in this world and on the Day of Resurrection. Wretched is the gift bestowed! (99) That is from the accounts of the towns which We relate to you: some are still standing, while others have been mown down. (100) We did not wrong them, but they wronged themselves. Their gods, whom they invoked besides Allah, availed them nothing when the command of your Lord came; rather, they only increased them in ruin. (101) Such is the seizure of your Lord when He seizes the towns while they are wrongdoing. Indeed, His seizure is painful and severe. (102) Surely, in that is a sign for whoever fears the punishment of the Hereafter. That is a Day for which the people will be gathered, and it is a Day to be witnessed. (103) We delay it only until an appointed term. (104) On the Day it comes, no soul will speak except by His permission; among them will be the wretched and the blessed. (105)”

“As though they had never [lived or even existed] there” (1): that is, as though they had never resided there. “Away with Midian”—that is, destruction—“just as Thamud was destroyed.”

His saying, glorified and exalted is He: “We certainly sent Moses with Our signs and clear authority”: that is, with a manifest proof.

“To Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they followed Pharaoh’s command; and Pharaoh’s command was not rightly guided”: that is, it was not sound.

“He will precede his people”: he will go ahead of them. “On the Day of Resurrection and lead them into”: that is, admit them into “the Fire. Wretched is the place to which they are led!” That is, wretched is the entrance and that into which they are admitted.

“And they are pursued in this”: that is, in this world, “by a curse, and on the Day of Resurrection. Wretched is the gift bestowed!” That is, the assistance given. It was also said: the gift bestowed. This is because the two curses came successively upon them: a curse in this world and a curse in the Hereafter.

“That is from the accounts of the towns which We relate to you: some are still standing”: inhabited, “while others have been mown down”: ruined. It was also said: among them are those still standing, whose walls remained while their roofs collapsed; and those mown down, whose traces have been effaced. Muqatil said: those still standing have visible traces, whereas those mown down have no visible traces. The word “mown down” means harvested.

“We did not wrong them” through punishment and destruction, “but they wronged themselves” through disbelief and disobedience. “Their gods, whom they invoked besides Allah, availed them nothing when the command of your Lord came”: that is, the punishment of your Lord. “Rather, they only increased them in ruin”: that is, in loss. It was also said: destruction.

“Such is”: that is, thus is “the seizure of your Lord when He seizes the towns while they are wrongdoing. Indeed, His seizure is painful and severe.” Abd al-Wahid al-Malihi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Nuaymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il narrated to us: