(21–26) “And remember the brother of Ād, when he warned his people in al-Ahqāf”—to the end of the account (1).
That is, mention with noble praise “the brother of Ād,” namely Hūd, peace be upon him. He was one of the noble messengers whom Allah Most High favored by entrusting them with the call to His religion and the guidance of creation to it.
“When he warned his people,” namely Ād, “in al-Ahqāf”—that is, in their homeland known as al-Ahqāf, an expanse of many sand dunes in Yemen.
“Warners had already passed before and after him.” He was therefore neither the first among them nor at variance with them. He said to his people, “Worship none but Allah. I truly fear for you the punishment of a tremendous Day.”
He commanded them to worship Allah, which encompasses every sound word and praiseworthy deed; forbade them polytheism and the setting up of rivals to Allah; and warned them that severe punishment would befall them if they did not obey him. Yet this call did not benefit them.
“They said, ‘Have you come to turn us away from our gods?’” That is, they claimed: “You have no real purpose and possess no truth; you merely envy us our gods and wish to turn us away from them.”
“Then bring upon us what you threaten us with, if you are truthful.” This was the height of ignorance and obstinacy.
“He said, ‘Knowledge rests with Allah alone.’” He holds the reins and keys of all affairs, and He will bring the punishment upon you if He wills. “I only convey to you that with which I was sent”—that is, my only duty is to convey the message clearly—“but I see that you are an ignorant people.” That is why you have displayed such extreme audacity. Allah therefore sent upon them the tremendous punishment: the wind that devastated and destroyed them.
Hence He said, “Then, when they saw it”—meaning the punishment—“as a cloud bank advancing toward their valleys”—that is, stretching across the sky like a cloud and approaching their valleys, where water flowed to irrigate their vegetation and from whose wells and pools they drank.
Rejoicing, “they said, ‘This is a cloud that will bring us rain.’” That is, this cloud will rain upon us.
Allah Most High said, “Rather, it is what you sought to hasten.” That is, this is what you brought upon yourselves when you said, “Then bring upon us what you threaten us with, if you are truthful”: “a wind bearing a painful punishment.”
“Destroying everything” over which it passed by virtue of its force and balefulness.
Allah unleashed it against them for “seven nights and eight days in succession, so that you would have seen the people lying there fallen, as though they were hollow trunks of date palms” [“by the command of its Lord”—that is, by His leave and will]. “By morning, nothing could be seen except their dwellings.” Their livestock, wealth, and very lives had perished. “Thus do We recompense the wicked people” because of their wickedness and wrongdoing.
This was despite the fact that Allah Most High had lavished immense blessings upon them, yet they neither thanked nor remembered Him. Hence He said, “We had indeed established them in ways We have not established you.” That is, We established them on earth, where they partook of its good things and enjoyed its pleasures,
⦗783⦘
and We granted them lifespans long enough for anyone willing to take heed to do so and for anyone rightly guided to learn a lesson. In other words, We established Ād just as We have established you who are now being addressed. Do not imagine that the position We have granted you is unique to you or that it will protect you in any way from Allah’s punishment. Others were established more firmly than you, yet neither their wealth, their children, nor their armies availed them in the least against Allah.
“And We gave them hearing, sight, and hearts.” That is, there was no deficiency in their hearing, sight, or understanding such that it could be said that they abandoned the truth because they were ignorant of it and unable to know it. Nor was there any defect in their intellects; but right guidance and success rest with Allah. “Yet neither their hearing, their sight, nor their hearts availed them in the least”—in any measure, small or great. That was because “they denied Allah’s signs,” which demonstrate His oneness and that He alone is to be worshipped.
“And what they used to ridicule encompassed them.” That is, the punishment whose occurrence they denied descended upon them, while they had mocked the messengers who warned them of it.