And when He had given respite to every people until time had prolonged for them, and when their minds did not guide them to what He had set for them of evidence, and He had bestowed upon them of blessings, and had brought upon the disbelievers before them of punishments, He sent among them a Messenger. He indicated that with the tool of delay, saying: ﴿Then We sent﴾, meaning after the establishment of every generation among them and the length of Our respite for them. From this, it is known that there is a period between every two Messengers. The Messengers were added to it because it is in the position of greatness and an increase in consolation, as He said: ﴿Our Messengers in succession﴾, meaning one after another. Al-Razi said: It is from the root of 'watara' meaning its connection. Al-Baghawi said: I followed the news, meaning I succeeded some of it with some and there was a brief interval between the two news. Al-Asbahani said: The original is 'watra', and the waw was changed to a ta as it was changed in 'taqwa'. Every Messenger came to his nation saying: Worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. And when it was as if it was said: So what happened? It was said: ﴿Every time a nation came﴾. And when it was in the context of denial, the Messenger was added to them, reproaching them for being specific in honor and rejecting it, and for the purpose of consolation as well, He said: ﴿Its Messenger﴾, meaning by what We commanded him with of monotheism. And when most of every nation was disbelieving, He attributed the action to all, saying: ﴿They denied him﴾, meaning as these did to you for what you commanded them with that. ﴿So We followed﴾ the generations with the consequence of their denial, ﴿one after another﴾ in destruction. So We would destroy the entire nation all at once; some of them by a cry, some by a quake, some by a sinking, and some by other than that. The taking of them by Us in an unusual manner - from Our destruction of them all together and the salvation of the Messengers and from their truthfulness and the difference among them in the type of punishment - indicates that We are the doers of that to them by Our choice, not by fate, and that We did not do that except because of their denial. And when they had gone, there remained among the people from them only their news. They were made into it, and He said: ﴿And We made them stories﴾, meaning news to be narrated and wondered at, so that they may be a lesson for those who reflect, so they may know that the disbelievers do not succeed and the believers do not fail. How good is the saying of the speaker: Nothing lasts, so be a beautiful story in remembrance, for this world is a story. And when their destruction resulted from their denial, which necessitated their distance, He said: ﴿So woe to a people﴾, meaning strong against what is required of them ﴿who do not believe﴾, meaning no renewal of faith comes from them even if the four seasons pass over them, because they have no balanced temperament.