He said, “My Lord, my people have denied me. So judge decisively between me and them, and save me and the believers who are with me.” So We saved him and those with him in the laden ship. Then We drowned the rest. Surely in that is a sign, yet most of them would not believe. And indeed, your Lord is the Almighty, the Most Merciful. (117–122)

‘Aad denied the messengers. When their brother Hud said to them, “Will you not fear Allah? Indeed, I am a trustworthy messenger to you. So fear Allah and obey me. I ask no payment of you for this; my reward is due only from the Lord of the worlds. Do you build on every elevation a monument, amusing yourselves?” (123–128)

He said, “My Lord, my people have denied me. So judge”—that is, decide—“between me and them with a decisive judgment, and save me and the believers who are with me.” “So We saved him and those with him in the laden ship,” meaning the ship heavily laden and filled with people, birds, and every kind of animal. “Then We drowned the rest,” that is, after saving Noah and his family, We drowned those of his people who remained. “Surely in that is a sign, yet most of them would not believe. And indeed, your Lord is the Almighty, the Most Merciful.”

Allah, exalted is He, says: “‘Aad denied the messengers. When their brother Hud said to them,” meaning their brother in lineage, not in religion, “‘Will you not fear Allah? Indeed, I am a trustworthy messenger to you,’” trustworthy with respect to the message. Al-Kalbi said: “I was trustworthy among you before the message came to me, so how can you accuse me today?” “So fear Allah and obey me. I ask no payment of you for this; my reward is due only from the Lord of the worlds.”

“Do you build on every elevation?” Al-Walibi narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas: that is, on every high place. Al-Dahhak, Muqatil, and al-Kalbi said: on every road; this is also the narration of al-‘Awfi from Ibn ‘Abbas. Mujahid said: it is the mountain pass between two mountains. Another report from him states that it is a lookout point. “A monument,” that is, a marker; “amusing yourselves” with those who pass along the road. The meaning is that they used to build structures in elevated places so that they could look down upon passersby and travelers, mock them, and toy with them.

Sa‘id ibn Jubayr and Mujahid said: this refers to pigeon towers. Hud condemned their construction of them, as indicated by His saying, “amusing yourselves,” that is, playing; for they used to