"If"; meaning: what; "it was"; meaning: the event by which they were punished; "except a shout"; which Gabriel - blessings and peace be upon him - called out to them; so they died one after another; and he confirmed its matter; and established its oneness by saying: "one"; meaning: for the insignificance of their matter with us; then he increased in belittling them by stating the swiftness of their destruction; by saying: "then they are extinguished"; meaning: the extinguishing is established for them; as if they had never had a movement one day in time; and among the most eloquent in this is the saying of Abu al-Ala Ahmad ibn Sulaiman al-Ma'arri:

"And like fire is life, so from ash ∗∗∗ its ends and its beginnings are smoke."