And when their entire discourse was based on their denial of him without any disparagement of the Creator's ability, the punishment was caused by their denial of him. So He said: ﴿So they denied him﴾ meaning: they continued in their denial of him. ﴿So He seized them﴾ meaning: a seizing of destruction. ﴿The punishment of the Day of the Shade﴾ is a cloud similar to what they requested from the pieces of the sky. It came to them after intense heat that afflicted them even from the depths of the earth more severely than what afflicted them from outside it, so that they might know that there is no doer except Allah, and that He acts as He wills according to the course of nature and outside of its course. They found in that shade a cool breeze and a pleasant spirit, so they gathered under it for relief and shade. Then it rained fire upon them, and they burned in a manner similar to what they had proposed, and Allah came to them from where they did not expect. The arrows of power penetrated them, and they found no protection or covering from it except that a need called for the fall of something from the mass of the sky, nor from anything less than that from the depths. And when the situation necessitated a question about the Day of the Shade, He, the Exalted, said, terrifying them regarding its matter and magnifying its significance: ﴿Indeed, it was﴾ so He affirmed with 'Indeed' [and magnified with 'was'] ﴿the punishment of a great day﴾ and He increased its greatness by relating it to the day, so it became for him from the terror, with the novelty of this saying, what the hearts must tremble for and the sorrows must increase.