⦗78–79⦘ “The people of the Thicket were indeed wrongdoers. So We took retribution from them, and both indeed lie along a clear highway.”

These were the people of Shuayb. Allah described them by associating them with the Thicket—a garden thick with trees—to remind them of His blessing upon them and that they had failed to give it its due. Rather, there came to them ⦗434⦘ their prophet Shuayb, who called them to monotheism and to cease wronging people in measures and weights. He exerted the utmost effort to reform them in this regard, yet they persisted in wronging both the Creator and His creation. For this reason, Allah describes them here as wrongdoers.

“So We took retribution from them”: the punishment of the Day of the Canopy seized them; indeed, it was the punishment of a terrible day. “Both indeed”—that is, the dwellings of Lot’s people and the people of the Thicket—“lie along a clear highway”—that is, a clearly marked road by which travelers pass at all times. Their visible remains can thus be seen with one’s own eyes, so that people of sound understanding may take heed.