(42–46) “If they deny you, the people of Noah, ‘Ād, and Thamūd had already denied their messengers, as had the people of Abraham, the people of Lot, and the inhabitants of Midian. Moses too was denied. I granted the disbelievers respite, then I seized them—and how terrible was My condemnation! How many a town We destroyed while it was steeped in wrongdoing, so that it now lies collapsed upon its roofs; and how many an abandoned well and lofty palace! Have they not traveled throughout the land so that they might have hearts with which to understand or ears with which to hear? Indeed, it is not the eyes that become blind, but the hearts within the breasts that become blind.”
Allah Most High says to His Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him: If these polytheists deny you, you are not the first messenger to be denied, nor are they the first nation to deny its messenger. “The people of Noah, ‘Ād, and Thamūd had already denied their messengers, as had the people of Abraham, the people of Lot, and the inhabitants of Midian”—that is, the people of Shu‘ayb.
“Moses too was denied. I granted the disbelievers respite”—that is, the disbelieving deniers. I did not hasten to punish them; rather, I gave them time until they persisted in wandering blindly in their transgression and continued to increase in their disbelief ⦗541⦘ and evil. “Then I seized them” with the seizure of One Almighty and All-Powerful. “And how terrible was My condemnation!” That is: what was the outcome of My condemnation of their disbelief and denial? It took the form of the severest punishments and the most dreadful exemplary chastisements. Some of them He drowned; some were overtaken by the blast; some were destroyed by the barren wind; some were swallowed by the earth; and upon others He sent the punishment of the Day of the Canopy.
Let these deniers therefore take warning from them, lest the same fate befall them. They are no better than those earlier peoples, nor has any writ of immunity been granted to them in the scriptures revealed by Allah. How numerous are those like them who were punished and destroyed! Thus, He says: “How many a town”—that is, how many towns—“We destroyed” with severe punishment and worldly disgrace, “while it was steeped in wrongdoing” through disbelief in Allah and denial of His messengers. Our punishment of it was no injustice on Our part. “So that it now lies collapsed upon its roofs.” Their dwellings, palaces, and walls were demolished, and their roofs fell in. They became ruins after once being flourishing, and desolate after once being inhabited and full of life.
“And how many an abandoned well and lofty palace!” How many a well was once crowded with people who came to draw water for themselves and their livestock, but then lost all its people, with no one coming to or departing from it. And how many a palace whose inhabitants labored to build, raise, fortify, and adorn it! Yet when Allah’s command came upon them, it availed them nothing. It became empty of its inhabitants, who became a lesson for those who take heed and an example for those who reflect and observe.
For this reason, Allah called upon His servants to travel throughout the land so that they might observe and take heed. He says: “Have they not traveled throughout the land” with both their bodies and their hearts, “so that they might have hearts with which to understand” Allah’s signs and contemplate the scenes that hold His lessons, “or ears with which to hear” the accounts of bygone nations and the reports of generations subjected to punishment? Merely looking with the eye, hearing with the ear, and traveling with the body—when devoid of reflection and heed—is of no benefit and does not lead to the intended end.
Thus, He says: “Indeed, it is not the eyes that become blind, but the hearts within the breasts that become blind.” This is the blindness that harms one’s religion: the heart’s blindness to the truth, so that it cannot perceive it, just as a blind person cannot see visible things. As for physical blindness, at most it affects one’s livelihood and worldly interests.