(p-473) And when the decree was: "You turned away after We saved you; so you disbelieved in that; and disbelief became a necessary description for you; so it resulted from that that you felt secure; meaning: you acted by that the act of one who is secure"; He denied this matter against them; for it is from the most ignorant of ignorance; so He said (the Exalted): ﴿Did you feel secure﴾; meaning: you were saved from the sea; so you felt secure after your exit from it; "that We would cause the earth to swallow you"; meaning: with what We have of greatness ﴿with you﴾; and it indicated the severity of their hastiness in disbelief upon their arrival at the edge of the shore; by His saying (the Exalted): ﴿the side of the land﴾; meaning: so We would cause you to disappear in it; in whichever side it was from; for Our ability to cause disappearance in the dust in all sides is like Our ability to cause disappearance in the water; it is the same; so it is upon the rational one that his fear of Allah should be equal in all sides; ﴿Or﴾ did you feel secure if your hearts hardened against contemplating such a thing; that "We would send upon you"; from above; something from Our command; ﴿a rain of stones﴾; meaning: it throws with small stones; as Al-Razi said in Al-Lawami'; and Al-Rummani said: stones with which one throws; meaning: he throws them with a continuous throwing; it has ended.

(p-474) That rain of stones throws at you in your faces; or above your heads a throwing that destroys like it; as happened to the people of Lut, when We sent upon them a rain of stones; and it was said: "the rain of stones" is the wind; and He did not say: "raining"; because it is a description that has become necessary for it; and it does not have a masculine form that it could transfer to in any state; so it was like "menstruating"; ﴿Then you will not find﴾; O people; ﴿for you﴾; and He generalized it; so He said (the Exalted): ﴿a protector﴾; who would save you from that; and not from anything else; just as you did not find in the sea a protector other than Him;