And when He gathered them in what they had gathered in, until it was as if they had advised one another regarding it, He explained what they differed about. He said, attributing to what they had previously said: "As for 'Aad," meaning the people of Hud, blessings and peace be upon him, "they were arrogant," meaning they sought arrogance and found it "in the earth," meaning all of it in which they acted and its remaining by strength, or in all of it by action because they had possessed all of it. And when arrogance can indeed be with truth, as in the case of one who opposes the command of Allah, He said: "without right," meaning the matter that corresponds to reality, which is the denial of the message of the Messenger. For the reality is their sending. "And they said," meaning they added to their arrogance in rejecting what had come to them of the truth, that they said, boasting against the command of Allah regarding what Allah had given them of His favor: "Who is stronger than us in strength?" So we are able to repel what comes to us of the punishment that Hud, blessings and peace be upon him, threatens us with, because they were the strongest of people and the greatest in stature.

And when it was appropriate to say in denial against them: Did they not see that if Allah had willed, He could have made them like others? He followed with His saying: "Did they not see?" meaning: to know knowledge as if it were observation, for it is an instinct in the original nature, so it is necessary knowledge. "That Allah," meaning the One who encompasses everything in power and knowledge, "who created them," and they were nothing, "is stronger than them in strength." And whoever knows that another is stronger than him and is rational submits to him in what benefits him and does not harm him. And the gathering of their strength, which is the strength of their physique, and His strength, glorified is He, which is the perfection of power, is a quality inherent to His essence, glorified is He. It is only in the effects resulting from strength, so for that reason they gathered with the strongest.

And when He clarified that they had found arrogance, He followed with what is an origin for every evil from their instincts. He said, clarifying the extreme ignorance they had in their arrogance against the greatness that is the concern of the destruction of the oppressor and the punishment of the sinner: "And they were," meaning it was their nature, "in Our signs," regarding what they have of greatness in relation to us.

"Denying," meaning they deny with a denial that diminishes every denial in obstinacy, while they know that it is from Us.