• “And We did not send down upon his people after him any host from heaven, nor would We have done so. It was but a single cry, and at once they were extinguished.” (28–29)

“Indeed, I have believed in your Lord, so listen to me,” meaning: listen to what I say. When he said this, the people descended upon him as one man and killed him (1).

Ibn Mas‘ud said: “They trampled him under their feet until his intestines came out from his rear” (2).

Al-Suddi said: “They pelted him with stones while he was saying, ‘O Allah, guide my people,’ until they cut him to pieces and killed him” (3).

Al-Hasan said: “They cut a hole in his throat and hung him from one of the city walls. His grave is in Antioch. Then Allah admitted him into Paradise, where he is alive and provided for.” This is the saying of Allah, exalted is He: “It was said, ‘Enter Paradise.’” When he entered Paradise, he said, “Would that my people knew how my Lord has forgiven me,” meaning, of my Lord’s forgiveness of me, “and made me among the honored.” He wished that his people might know that Allah had forgiven and honored him, so that they would be drawn to the religion of the messengers.

When Habib was killed, Allah was angered on his behalf and hastened their punishment. He commanded Gabriel, peace be upon him, who gave them a single cry, and they all died, to the very last one. This is the saying of Allah, exalted is He: “And We did not send down upon his people after him any host from heaven,” meaning, angels, “nor would We have done so”: We were not to do such a thing. Rather, their destruction was easier than they imagined.

It was also said that the meaning of “And We did not send down upon his people after him” is: upon the people of Habib the carpenter after they killed him, any host. Nor had We been in the habit of sending such hosts down upon nations when We destroyed them, as with the Flood, the thunderbolt, and the wind. Then He clarified their punishment, saying, exalted is He: “It was but a single cry.” Abu Ja‘far recited ṣayḥatun wāḥidatun (a single cry) (4), with both words in the nominative case, taking kawn in the sense of occurrence.