And when those whose destruction was by the very wind, which is the source of the coming rains for them in the clouds, were preceded, and those whose destruction was by it through its carrying of the cry and its terrorizing of them, were followed, He said: "And the people of Noah," meaning He destroyed them due to their wrongdoing by denying. And since their destruction occurred in some of the past time, He said: "Before," meaning before the two groups. Thus, in the speech, there are two terrifying descriptions that shake the heart and act upon the soul: the description of these by the two tribes and those by the first. Were it not for their precedence, this would not have been. And He justified their destruction by what indicates that there is no difference to Him between the strong and the weak, the few and the many, confirming that what has become known of the tyranny of 'Aad necessitates that they were the most tyrannical of people: "Indeed, they were," meaning by what they had of the morals that are like mountains, which cannot be separated from them. "They are," meaning specifically, "more unjust" than the two mentioned groups, "and more tyrannical," meaning more excessive in wrongdoing and arrogance and transgression in sins and pride and rebellion due to the prolongation of the call of Noah, blessings and peace be upon him, and because they had longer lifespans and stronger bodies, and they were, despite that, filling the earth. And it is permissible that the pronoun refers to the three groups.