“They will surely become”: that is, they will surely become. “Remorseful”: over their disbelief and their denial.

“Then the Cry seized them in truth”: that is, the cry of punishment. It is said that by “the Cry” He meant destruction. It is also said that Gabriel cried out at them with a cry, causing their hearts to burst asunder. “So We made them like flotsam”: this is the grass and tree branches carried away by a torrent. That is, We made them perish, and they dried up as the debris from the vegetation of the earth dries up. “So away with the wrongdoing people!”

“Then We brought forth after them later generations”: that is, other peoples. “No community can advance its appointed term”: that is, no community can outstrip its term, meaning the time of its destruction; “nor can they delay it”: nor can they postpone the time of their destruction.

“Then We sent Our messengers in succession”: that is, one after another, each following the next, though not in an uninterrupted sequence, for there was a long period between every two prophets. The word is on the fa'la pattern, derived from muwatarah, meaning succession. Al-Asma'i said: “One says, ‘I conveyed the report in succession,’ meaning that I followed one part with another, with a brief interval between the two reports.” (1)

The Qur'an reciters differed concerning it. Abu Ja'far, Ibn Kathir, and Abu Amr recited it with nunation, pausing on it with an alif. Abu Amr does not employ vowel inclination in its recitation, and when pausing on it, it is like the alif in their saying, “I saw Zayd.” The remaining reciters read it without nunation; according to them, it is paused upon with a ya, and Hamzah and al-Kisa'i employ vowel inclination in its recitation. It is like their saying, ghadba (angry) and sukra (intoxicated), and it is a collective noun like shatta (scattered groups). In both readings, the first ta replaces a waw. Its original form is watra, derived from muwatarah and tawatur; the waw was changed into a ta, as in taqwa (God-consciousness) and tuklan (reliance).

“Whenever their messenger came to a community, they denied him. So We made them follow one another”: through destruction—that is, We destroyed some in the wake of others—“and made them mere tales”: that is, subjects of evening conversation and stories, with those who came after them speaking of their affair and condition; and it is