And when he established the proof against them, he followed it with threats and warnings. He said, emphasizing his words on "Do they not reflect?": "Do they not travel?" And when the traces of the disbelievers surrounded the honored Mecca from the east and the west, and from the south and the north, by the dwellings of Thamud and the people of Pharaoh and 'Aad and Saba and the people of Lot, he made it known and stated: "In the earth" [meaning] a journey of reflection, contemplation, and remembrance from any direction they wished. And in it is an indication that they are standing at the observation of the apparent kingdom with their eyes, limited in their consideration of the hidden dominion with their thoughts. And in it is a shake for them to mount this high degree, with this clear expression: "So let them look."

And when what befell the past ones was a great matter, he alerted to its greatness by stating that it is worthy of being asked about, saying: "How was it?" meaning a state from which there is no ability to detach from it. And the reminder of the deed indicates the greatness of the matter: "The consequence" meaning the end of the matter: "of those" And when the state of those close to the time of man is a warning for him, he affirmed the conjunction, saying: "Before them" in the destruction of the disobedient and the salvation of the obedient. And when the knowledge of the consequence is conditional upon the knowledge of the beginning, he stated as a continuation: "They were" meaning a state that is at the utmost possibility.

[And when the context is for the appearance and dominance which is based on the strength that necessitates steadfastness, not the mere abundance devoid of it, he turned away from it and stated, dropping the pronoun of separation, for this context does not show the claim of the Arabs to their superiority over Persia or Rome]: "Stronger than them" meaning from the Arabs: "in strength" meaning in their bodies and minds. And when the estimation is: "So they excavated the mountains, and they worked from the precise crafts that you see from the deeds that no one from the generations has matched," he added to it his saying: "And they cultivated" with farming and others: "the earth" so they brought forth what was in it of benefits from water, minerals, agriculture, and other than that from the minerals. "And they populated it" meaning those predecessors: "more than they populated it" meaning these whom you were sent to. Rather, they have no significant matter in the cultivation of the earth and its inhabitation, for the lands of the Arabs are merely black mountains and barren deserts. So it is nothing but mockery of them, and a statement of their weak state in their worldly life, of which they have no pride except for it.

And when they had stood like these with the lesser cause, and had not elevated their minds to the higher objective, He informed that He had sent to them the callers to awaken them from their slumber, and to save them from their heedlessness. So the decree was: they strayed from the clear path, and were blind to the spacious way, and deviated from the path of the Lord. So We sent to them the messengers, and His saying turned towards the weakness of their minds by their denying the messengers, as was previously clarified in the verse: "Those are the messengers" [Al-Baqarah: 253] "And their messengers came to them" meaning from Us "with clear signs" from the miracles, like what Our Messenger brought you from Our previous promises, and Our extraordinary matters, such as the matter of the Night Journey and what was shown in it of wonders, like the news that the caravan would arrive on such a day, led by a camel whose description is such and its peculiarities are such. Thus it became evident. And you did not believe as those who were stronger than you did not believe. "So" meaning because indeed "Allah" with His attributes of perfection did not intend "to wrong them" by doing to them what you consider to be an act of injustice, by destroying them in this world and then exacting retribution from them on the Day of Resurrection before establishing the proof against them by sending the messengers with clear signs. "But they were" to the utmost of their effort "themselves" meaning specifically "wronging" themselves, that is, they renewed the injustice to themselves by inflicting harm while seeking benefit, because they do not consider with their minds which We have placed in them to enlighten them so that they may know the truth from falsehood, nor do they accept from the guides when they uncover for them what is upon them of the veil, nor do they turn back from misguidance when they are compelled by the manifest signs. Rather, they transition from heedlessness to stubbornness.