And when it was one of the greatest things to be remembered, the hidden blessings and the manifest punishments for turning towards Allah and turning away from anything else, and not being deceived by the means of safety and comfort - He said: "And how many" meaning: your remembrance and fear of our might is little, while the case is that how many "towns" even if they were great. And when the intended meaning was the exaggeration in destruction, He attributed it to the town, and the intended meaning is its people, so He said: "We destroyed it" meaning: by what we have of might for its wrongdoing by following those other than Allah. So do not be deceived by your allies other than Him while you know that they did not benefit those who strayed from the past nations at the time of our sending against them the might and our inflicting upon them the punishment and the realization of those who were doomed at that time - although they were stronger in force and greater in number and more fortified in plotting - their not being able to help them, so they did not direct their hopes towards them.

And when the meaning was: We intended to destroy it and we decreed it, it caused His saying: "So Our punishment came to it" meaning: Our torment by what we have of power and might. Or the destruction in its reality, and this is a detail of it and an explanation. And when there is no difference in the coming of His punishment - glorified and exalted is He - between whether it is at night or during the day, and the most severe punishment and its harshness is when it occurs at a time of comfort, ease, and negligence - He said: "By night" meaning: at the time of being settled in the houses at night, as He destroyed the people of Lut - blessings and peace be upon him - at the time of dawn.

And when the intended meaning of the town is its people - He clarified it by saying: [For when the addition is omitted, there can be two considerations based on what is appropriate in meaning: that it should not be referred to - as in the beginning of the verse, and that it should be referred to - as in this latter part to clarify that the people are the intended ones because they are the subject of the threat]: "Or are they saying" meaning (they are) sleeping at the time of the afternoon nap or resting without sleep, as He destroyed the people of Shu'ayb - blessings and peace be upon him - meaning: that they were in both times heedless because they were safe, not thinking that any of their actions would necessitate punishment nor were they anticipating anything from it. So the estimation is: by night they are in it sleeping, or during the afternoon they are in it saying (sleeping). So the verse is from the intertwining: the affirmation of (by night) first indicates the omission of (afternoon) second, and the affirmation of (they are saying) second indicates the omission of (they are sleeping) first. And what guided us to this good meaning is the mention of (they) without a conjunction, and this is close to His saying in what comes: "Do the people of the towns feel secure that Our punishment will come to them by night while they are sleeping?" [Al-A'raf: 97] So the closest is that the omitted first is sleeping, and second is during the day, so the estimation is: by night they are in it sleeping, or during the day they are in it saying. And He clarified the greatness of what came to them and horrified it by stating that in both times it did not occur to anyone among them to consider resisting it, by what was caused by that from His saying: