So We sent, because of that, upon them from what We have of greatness. And it indicated their smallness and insignificance by the tool of superiority, so He said: "upon them." And He increased in belittling them by informing that He destroyed them because of what they were proud of, from the strength of their bodies and the firmness of their creation, with what is among the gentlest of things in body, which is the air. He said: "a wind," meaning: a great one, "violent," meaning: severe in cold, sound, and fury, until it would freeze the body with its cold, making it as if it were compressing it - meaning: gathering it - in one place, preventing it from moving with its strength, and cutting the heart with its sound, so it overcomes its bravery, and it burns with the severity of its cold everything that it passes over.

And when their arrogance in this context was mentioned, and their claim that they were the strongest of people necessitated belittling them in their destruction, He mentioned the days without the nights, even though they are included in it. So He, the Most High, said: "In days". And when the plural of the few can be borrowed for the many, it was confirmed that what is meant is the few by describing it with the plural of sound, so He said: "unfortunate ones". This was more indicative of this meaning than the singular day, as in the moon, because it may refer to a time in which a clear matter is completed, even if its duration is long. And it is valid for the genus, thus it includes with the few what is suitable for the plural of the many. And in it - although it is a warning - there is a symbol for the one to whom this revelation was sent, blessings and peace be upon him, with the greatest glad tidings for what was hinted at by the opening of the surah with the name of mercy, and His saying, the Most High: "For a people who know" [Fussilat: 3], indicating that there will be for his people strength and knowledge. And whoever combined the warning with the glad tidings in His saying: "A bringer of good tidings and a warner" [Fussilat: 4], and whoever made the days of this punishment eight, indicated patience and deliberation, as was indicated by what preceded regarding the creation of this existence in six days. And He was certainly capable of both punishment and creation in a single moment. This indicated that in the sixth year of the Hijrah, there will be the causal conquest with the Umrah of Hudaybiyyah, which was the reason for the revelation of Surah Al-Fath. And in the seventh, there will be the Umrah that was harder for them than the falling of the sharp sword, until Amr ibn Al-As went for that to Abyssinia so that he would not see the entrance of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and his companions, may Allah be pleased with them, what he could not bear. And in the eighth, there will be the true conquest with ten thousand fighters, most of whom are armored, and nothing is seen from them except their eyes, until they thought the whiteness was for their mother a mirage. They thought it was the utmost of punishment, so they were a mercy. And 'Aad saw the cloud and thought it was a mercy, so it was a punishment and retribution. And describing it as unfortunate is an exaggeration, like: "a just man" to indicate that it was capable of affecting the body and what was in it of powers with this wind. It is a source gathered for the different types of misfortune in it - this is according to the reading of the majority with the calmness of the 'h'. As for the reading of Ibn 'Amir and the Kufans with the breaking of the 'h', it is a description from an action with the breaking, like: he was happy, so he is happy. And the first of these days is Wednesday according to the saying of Yahya ibn Salam. Others said: No people were punished except on Wednesday: "So that We may make them taste". And he added the described to its attribute for exaggeration from the valley of a just man, saying: "The punishment of disgrace", meaning: that which prepares them and exposes them and humiliates them by what they have glorified and boasted about against the word of Allah which His messengers brought to them. And he described the punishment with disgrace, which is for the one punished by it an exaggeration in humiliating him in this world, to humiliate them before those whom they glorified against in the abode in which they were deceived and glorified therein. For that is more indicative of the power before one who is bound by delusion. And the punishment of the Hereafter, which has been prepared for the arrogant, is more humiliating, as they said: it is more humiliating for them, just as they said: he gave them for the dirhams and favored them for the good.

And when their defense of themselves ceased, he denied the defense of others. So he said: ﴿And they﴾ meaning: this punishment has befallen them, and the punishment of the Hereafter will befall them, while they ﴿will not be helped﴾ meaning: there will be no help for them, nor will any assistance come to them ever in any way.