So We made it, meaning that it resulted from Our saying that they were apes, as We said. So We made this punishment a deterrent, meaning a binding restraint for what is before it from the sins of the people of its world who witness it, and what is behind it from those who came after them. This meaning was narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them. The deterrent is the display of punishment for those who take heed from it. The hand is what shows the realities of things and their forms, both high and low. For this reason, it is mentioned in dual form because there is a high hand, which is the right hand, and a low hand, which is the left hand. The 'behind' is what is left by the one who is heading in his direction, so the witnesses of his approach become obscured from his senses. This was said by Al-Harali.

And He said, 'And an admonition,' from the admonition, which is the calling of things with what is in them of lessons for submission to the true God by what frightens them in response to the reminder of what gives them hope and expands it for the righteous. This indicates that piety is a protection from every danger and that calamities befall others, serving as a lesson for them.