“Do you find it astonishing that a reminder has come to you from your Lord through a man from among you, so that he may warn you?” That is: How can you be astonished by something that warrants no astonishment—namely, that Allah sent you a man from among yourselves whose character you know, to remind you of what serves your interests and urge you toward what benefits you? Yet you reacted with the astonishment of those who reject the truth.
“And remember when He made you successors after the people of Noah.” That is: Praise your Lord and thank Him for establishing you upon the earth and making you successors to the nations that perished after rejecting their messengers. Allah destroyed them but allowed you to remain, that He might see how you would act. Beware of persisting in denial as they did, lest what befell them also befall you. “And” remember the blessing Allah specially bestowed upon you: “He increased you abundantly in stature,” granting you strength, great physical size, and tremendous might. “So remember the favors of Allah”—that is, His abundant blessings and repeated acts of grace—“so that you may,” by remembering them with gratitude and fulfilling their due, “prosper”: attaining what you seek and escaping what you fear.
Thus, he admonished and reminded them, commanded them to affirm Allah’s oneness, described himself to them as a trustworthy adviser, warned them lest Allah seize them as He had seized those before them, and reminded them of Allah’s blessings upon them and His continual provision for them. Yet they neither submitted nor responded.
“So they said,” astonished by his call and telling him that it was inconceivable for them to obey him: “Have you come to us so that we should worship Allah alone and forsake what our forefathers used to worship?” May Allah disgrace them! They treated that which is the most binding of all obligations and the most perfect of all matters as something for whose sake they would not depart from the ways they had found their forefathers following. They therefore preferred the polytheism and idol worship of their misguided forefathers over the message brought by the messengers: that Allah alone must be worshipped, without any partner. They rejected their prophet and said, “Then bring upon us what you threaten us with, if you are truthful.” In this way, they were asking Allah to judge against them.
Hūd, peace be upon him, then said to them: “Punishment and wrath from your Lord have already fallen upon you.” That is, they were now bound to fall, for their causes had already been established and the time of destruction had come.
“Do you dispute with me concerning names that you and your forefathers have invented?” That is: How can you dispute over things that have no reality, and over idols that you have named gods when they possess not even an atom’s weight of divinity, “for which Allah has sent down no authority”? Had those claims been true, Allah would have sent down proof for them. His failure to send any such proof demonstrates their falsehood. For every object of pursuit or intention—especially matters of great consequence—Allah has made clear the evidence establishing it and supplied authority that leaves no room for obscurity.
“So wait” for the punishment I have promised will befall you; “I too am waiting with you.” Yet there is a difference between the two kinds of waiting: theirs was the waiting of those who fear that punishment will fall, while his was the waiting of one who hopes for victory and reward from Allah. Allah therefore rendered judgment between the two parties, saying:
“So We saved him”—that is, Hūd—“and those who” believed “with him, by mercy from Us.” It was Allah who guided them to faith and made their faith a means by which they attained His mercy; thus, He saved them through His mercy. “And We cut off the last remnant of those who denied Our signs.” That is, We utterly eradicated them with a severe punishment that left not one of them alive. Allah unleashed upon them the barren wind, which left nothing it swept over without reducing it to decayed ruins. They were destroyed, and by morning nothing could be seen except their dwellings. Consider, then, the fate of those who had been warned: the proofs were established against them, yet they did not submit; they were commanded to believe, yet they did not. Their end was therefore destruction, humiliation, and disgrace.
“They were pursued by a curse in this world and on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed, Ād denied their Lord. Away, then, with Ād, the people of Hūd!”
Here Allah said, “And We cut off the last remnant of those who denied Our signs, for they were not believers” in any respect. Rather, denial and obstinacy were their defining traits, and arrogance and corruption their attributes.