“And remember the brother of ‘Ad, when he warned his people at al-Ahqaf—while warners had already passed before him and after him—saying, ‘Worship none but Allah. Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous Day.’ They said, ‘Have you come to turn us away from our gods? Then bring us what you promise us, if you are truthful.’”

His saying, exalted is He, “And remember the brother of ‘Ad,” means Hud, peace be upon him. “When he warned his people at al-Ahqaf”: Ibn ‘Abbas said, “Al-Ahqaf is a valley between Oman and Mahrah.”

Muqatil said: The dwellings of ‘Ad were in Yemen, in Hadramawt, at a place called Mahrah, to which the Mahri camels are ascribed. They lived in portable tented dwellings during the spring; then, when the heat became intense, they returned to their homes. They belonged to the tribe of Iram.

Qatadah said: We have been told that ‘Ad were clans in Yemen. They lived in a sandy region overlooking the sea, in a land called al-Shihr. Al-Ahqaf is the plural of hiqf: an elongated, curved stretch of sand. Ibn Zayd said: It is an elongated mass of sand resembling a mountain, but not rising enough to be a mountain. ⦗124/b⦘ Al-Kisa’i said: It is that which is rounded of sand.

“And warners had already passed”: that is, the messengers had gone before. “Before him,” meaning before Hud; “and after him,” meaning to their respective peoples: “Worship none but Allah. Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous Day.”

“They said, ‘Have you come to turn us away [to divert us] (1) from our gods’”—that is, from worshipping them—“Then bring us what you promise us [of punishment] (2), if you are truthful”: namely, that the punishment will descend upon us.