And when He threatened them, glorified and exalted is He, with the matters of the Hereafter, and concealed the matter by reminding them of it because it is hidden, while they deny it in His saying "And the Day," and He concluded with punishment upon the blameworthy arrogance and wickedness, He turned to threaten them with the tangible matters because they are bound by them, explicitly commanding the mention. So He, the Most High, said: "And mention," meaning: for those who do not take admonition from the essence of wisdom which is not hidden from the one with understanding, which is resurrection. And when the most significant thing they are threatened with in this Surah, and the most suitable for its purpose, returned to the fact that they were the strongest of people in bodies, the most defiant in necks, the hardest in hearts, the most expansive in kingdom, and the greatest in arrogance, to the extent that they would say: "Who is stronger than us in might?" [Fussilat: 15] And they built a structure that destroys time and does not perish, so none works on it except one who forgets death or hopes for eternity, and they created a paradise on the face of the earth because their kingdom encompassed all of it along with the proximity of their lands, as it was in the land of the Arabs from Quraysh, and their knowledge of their news and their sight of their dwellings, and the fact that their punishment arose from their land by the supplication of whoever among them called upon it. He mentioned their matter in a way that indicated the purpose of the Surah, and he expressed brotherhood as consolation for his Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, because the atrocity of the people against one who is among them and knows his virtues and glories is more painful. So he said: "The brother of 'Aad," and he is the brother of Hud, peace be upon him, who was among a people whom your people do not compare to in strength or capability, and he proclaimed to them the bitter truth and confronted them with the command of Allah, not fearing their consequence, and I saved him from them. So he is for you a role model and in him is an example, and for your people in their intent towards you with harm from his matter is an admonition.

And when he reminded him, blessings and peace be upon him, of such noble objectives, he replaced his story with an addition in the explanation. He said, clarifying that the warning is the greatest objective of the message: ﴿When﴾ meaning: at the time ﴿he warned her people﴾ meaning: those who have an additional strength in what they attempt ﴿in Al-Ahqaf﴾. Al-Asbahani said: Ibn Abbas said: It is a valley between Oman and Mahrah. He said: And Muqatil said: The dwellings of 'Aad were in Yemen in Hadramaut at a place called Mahrah, to which the Mahri camels are attributed. They were a people of moving tents in the spring, and when the reeds bloomed, they returned to their dwellings. They were from the tribe of Iram. And Qatadah said: They were overlooking the sea in a land called Al-Shajar. Al-Ahqaf is the plural of Hiqf in the broken form, which is elongated sand that is elevated and has a curvature. Ibn Zayd said: It is what extends from the sand in the shape of a mountain but has not reached the height of a mountain. And in the dictionary, it is the great round sand, and the origin of sand is that it stretches and bends. It is clear that this shape does not occur in a land where the wind is overwhelmingly strong; for if that were the case, it would have obliterated the mountain completely, unlike the lands of the mountains like the honored Makkah. For the wind there is extremely strong, as it either strikes the mountain and rebounds with great force, or there are mountains that repel each other or compress, causing disturbances in the openings, so the people of the mountains should be more cautious than that.

And when he mentioned the warner and the warners and their place regarding what was mentioned of the objectives, he mentioned that they turned away from him, and it was not strange among the messengers, nor were his people ignorant of their conditions. Thus, they deserved the punishment as a warning from a situation like theirs. He said: ﴿And indeed﴾ meaning: while it is the case that ﴿the warners have passed﴾ meaning: many messengers whose purpose was warning.

And since their sending was not exhaustive of all times, he included the preposition and said: ﴿Before him﴾ meaning: before him like Nuh, Shith, and Adam, blessings and peace be upon them, so it was not strange among them ﴿and after him﴾ meaning: those who came after him, so you were not strange among them. And when he referred to the multitude of messengers, he mentioned their unity in the essence of the call. He said, explaining the warning, expressing it with a prohibition: ﴿Do not worship﴾ meaning: O warned servants, in any way, anything from the things ﴿except Allah﴾ the King who has no king other than Him, nor Creator besides Him, nor Benefactor except Him. For I see you associating partners with Him who has not associated with Him in any of your management, and the King does not allow such a thing.

And when he commanded them and forbade them, he explained that by saying, warning them of the punishment and affirming their denial due to their reliance on the strength of their bodies and their great status: "Indeed, I fear for you" because you are my people and the most beloved of people to me, "the punishment of a great day" that does not leave any direction except that it fills it with its punishment, if you persist in what you are upon of polytheism.