﴿So eat﴾ meaning: So it resulted from their denial and disobedience that each one of them ﴿We took﴾ meaning: with what We have of greatness ﴿by their sin﴾ a taking of punishment so that he may know that no one can overpower Us. ﴿So among them are those whom We sent upon﴾ the sending of punishment, oh what a punishment! ﴿a wind﴾ meaning: a wind that throws with the strength of its force and the intensity of its assault with stones like 'Aad and the people of Lut. ﴿And among them are those whom﴾ a taking of destruction, anger, and punishment seized. [And He shifted from the style of greatness so that the attribution in this does not imply a sound that would lead to the calamity of comparison.] ﴿The shout﴾ which manifests its intensity, the wind carrying it, coinciding with its intent, so the earth shakes for its greatness like the people of Madyan and Thamud. ﴿And among them are those whom﴾ [He returned to the style of greatness for the safety from the mentioned implication in the shout and to indicate that no one can overpower it except Allah, glorified is He, for in it is evidence of His greatness that description falls short of.] ﴿We caused the earth to swallow him﴾ by burying him in it like Qarun and his people. ﴿And among them are those whom We drowned﴾ in the flood of water like the people of Nuh and Fir'aun and his soldiers, and the punishment of the people of Lut and Salih is suitable for counting in drowning and counting in swallowing. So at times We destroy with a wind that throws stones from the sky like the people of Lut, or from the earth like 'Aad, and at other times with a wind that strikes with a shout that shakes the hearts and the lands, and at one time We annihilate by drowning in the dense and at another by drowning in the light - so to Allah belongs the praise of the observers of these decisive matters - and the thinkers in these past decrees, so that they may know the truth of His saying: ﴿And you are not able to escape in the earth nor in the heaven﴾ [Al-Ankabut: 22] - [the verse].

And when that might lead the people of obstinacy to something they are accustomed to in their stubbornness, He said: ﴿And Allah was not﴾ meaning: the One for whom there is nothing of majesty and perfection except Him ﴿to wrong them﴾ meaning: intending to treat them with the treatment of the oppressor who punishes one who has no crime, or one who has committed a crime and has not been previously warned against his crime to stop (p-441) so that he may be safe, or he continues and is destroyed because there is no benefit that reaches Him, glorified is He, from their destruction, nor any harm that befalls Him, exalted is His status, from their remaining. ﴿But they were﴾ meaning: [they] not others ﴿themselves﴾ not others ﴿wronging﴾ by committing what We informed them more than once that it angers Us and that We take those who do it. So they did not accept the advice despite their weakness, nor did they fear the punishment due to their weakness, and as for what they worshipped and hoped for its support for them and anticipated it, it weakened them.