“And fear the One who created you and the former generations.” That is, the earlier peoples. Just as He alone created you and those before you, without any partner in doing so, worship Him alone and affirm His oneness. And just as He blessed you by bringing you into existence and sustaining you with blessings, respond by giving thanks to Him.
They said to him, denying him and rejecting his words: “You are only one of those bewitched.” In other words, you rave and speak as a bewitched man speaks, whose words, at most, are not held against him.
“And you are nothing but a human being like us.” You possess no distinction by which you have been favored above us, such that you should call us to follow you. This resembles the words of those before and after them who opposed the messengers with this specious argument. They continued to advance and brandish it, agreeing upon it because they agreed in disbelief and their hearts were alike.
The messengers answered it by saying: “We are only human beings like you, but Allah bestows His favor upon whomever He wills of His servants.”
“And indeed, we think that you are one of the liars.” This was audacity, injustice, and a false statement on their part, for inwardly they believed the opposite. No messenger ever confronted his people, called them, and debated with them as they debated with him without Allah manifesting at his hands signs by which they became certain of his truthfulness and trustworthiness. This was especially so with Shuayb, peace be upon him, who is called the Orator of the Prophets because of the eloquence of his exchanges with his people and his debating with them in the best manner. His people were certain of his truthfulness and that what he brought was the truth; their claim that they thought him a liar was itself a lie.
“So cause fragments of the sky to fall upon us”—that is, fragments bringing a punishment that will eradicate us—“if you are among the truthful.” This is like the words of their brethren: “And when they said, ‘O Allah, if this is indeed the truth from You, then rain down stones upon us from the sky or bring us a painful punishment.’” Alternatively, they were demanding one of the signs of their own choosing, and the request of one who demands such a sign does not necessarily have to be fulfilled.
“Shuayb said,” peace be upon him, “My Lord knows best what you do.” That is, as for sending down punishment and bringing about the signs you demand, I am not the one who brings them or sends them down upon you. My duty is only to convey the message to you and advise you, and I have done so. It is my Lord who brings them—the One who knows your deeds and circumstances and who will recompense you and call you to account.
“But they denied him.” Denial became an ingrained trait of theirs and disbelief their constant habit, such that signs would not benefit them. There was no remedy for them except the descent of punishment.
“So the punishment of the Day of the Canopy seized them.” A cloud overshadowed them, and they gathered beneath it, delighting in its shade, though it afforded no true shelter. It consumed them with punishment, leaving them lifeless beneath it, parted from their homes and consigned to the abode of misery and torment.
“Indeed, it was the punishment of a terrible day.” They would never return to this world to begin their deeds anew; the punishment would not be lightened for them for even an hour, nor would they be granted respite.
“Indeed, in that is a sign” demonstrating Shuayb’s truthfulness, the soundness of that to which he called, and the falsity of his people’s rejection of him. “Yet most of them would not believe,” despite witnessing the signs, because they possessed neither purity nor goodness. “And most people, however eagerly you may desire it, will not believe.”
“And indeed, your Lord—He is the Almighty,” who, by His power, is beyond anyone’s reach and has subdued every creature, “the Most Merciful,” whose attribute is mercy. Among the effects of His mercy are all the blessings of this world and the Hereafter, from the moment Allah brought the universe into existence and for all eternity. Among the effects of His might is that He destroyed His enemies when they denied His messengers, and among the effects of His mercy is that He saved His allies and the believers who followed them.