And when he mentioned this story, he included what is along its path of another type of punishment that he inflicted upon his people, which resembles the punishment of the people of Lut in being fire from the sky. He said - confirming due to the denial of the disbelievers that their punishment is for the sake of their denial or as a reckoning for them due to their persistence in misguidance while being aware of it, as a count of the deniers -: "And if"; meaning: and indeed it; "were the companions of the thicket"; and they are the people of Shu'ayb - blessings and peace be upon him -; and "the thicket" refers to the tree; according to Al-Hasan; and its plural is "the thickets"; like "a tree" and "trees"; and it is said: "the thicket" refers to the intertwined trees; "for the wrongdoers"; meaning: those deeply rooted in wrongdoing.