His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So if they turn away, I have conveyed to you what I was sent with to you. And my Lord will replace a people other than you, and you will not harm Him in anything. Indeed, my Lord is, over all things, a Guardian." "And when Our command came, We saved Hud and those who believed with him by a mercy from Us, and We saved them from a severe punishment." "And that was 'Aad, they denied the signs of their Lord and disobeyed His messengers and followed the command of every obstinate tyrant." "And they were followed in this world by a curse, and on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed, 'Aad disbelieved in their Lord. So away with 'Aad, the people of Hud."

The majority read: "They turn away" with a fatḥah on the lām and the tāʾ, meaning "if you turn away." And ʿIsa al-Thaqafi and al-Aʿraj read: "You turn away" with a ḍammah on the tāʾ and the lām. And "if" is a condition, and the response is in the fā' and what follows it from His saying: "I have conveyed to you." The meaning is that I have no great concern for you if you turn away; my duty of conveying has been fulfilled, and you are the ones at fault for turning away from faith.

It is possible that "they turn away" is a past tense verb, and there is a return in the speech from the third person to addressing them directly, meaning: say: I have conveyed to you.

The majority read: "And my Lord will replace" with a ḍammah on the fā' meaning the news of that. And ʿAsim, as narrated by Hubayrah from Hafs, read: "And He will replace" with a jasm, in conjunction with the position of the fā' in His saying: "I have conveyed."

His saying: "And you will not harm Him in anything" can have two meanings: One of them is that you will not harm Him by your departure and destruction in anything, meaning His dominion will not be diminished, nor will His affair be unsettled. And on this meaning, ʿAbdullah ibn Masʿud read: "And you will not diminish Him in anything."

The other meaning is: And you will not harm Him, meaning you will not be able, if He destroys you, to harm Him in anything, nor to retaliate against Him, nor will you be able to counter His action against you with anything that harms Him.

Then He informed them that his Lord is a Guardian over all things, knowing of it, and in the repetition of these attributes and similar ones is a reminder and admonition.

And "the command" is one of the commands, and it is possible that it is a source of the verb 'amara, meaning Our command to the wind or to its guardians and so on. And His saying: "by a mercy" can either be a mere report about a mercy from Allah that reached them, or it can be intended to inform that the salvation was completed solely by the mercy of Allah, not by their deeds. Thus, the verse would mean the saying of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him: "No one enters Paradise by his deeds." They said: Not even you, O Messenger of Allah? He said: "Not even me, unless Allah envelops me with His grace and mercy."

And His saying: "And We saved them from a severe punishment" can mean: the punishment of the Hereafter, and it can mean: the earlier salvation from a severe punishment, referring to the wind. The intended meaning here would be the recounting of the blessing, and their well-known punishment by the wind is that it used to carry them and demolish their homes and uproot them and carry the pregnant women as they are, and so on. And al-Zajjaj narrated that it used to enter their bodies and exit from their backs and tear them apart limb by limb.

And "they denied" is transgressed by a preposition when it was placed at the level of "they disbelieved." This is reflected in the verse after this, and His saying: ﴿And they disobeyed His messengers﴾ is a disgrace upon them. This is because in denying one messenger, there is a denial of all the messengers and disobedience to them. Indeed, all prophethood is united in belief in Allah and acknowledgment of His lordship. It is possible that Hud is meant, as well as Adam and Noah, peace be upon them.

And "the obstinate" is a form derived from "to be obstinate" when one becomes arrogant. From this is the saying of the poet:

I am old, I cannot bear obstinacy.

That is, the difficulties of camels. Arrogance and obstinacy were traits of 'Aad due to their strength.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿And they were followed in this world by a curse﴾, they were judged by this judgment due to their disbelief and persistence until the punishment descended upon them. And "the curse" means distance and disgrace. It has been confirmed that these people met in disbelief, so the disbeliever who meets in his disbelief is cursed, and no specific living person is cursed, neither from a disbeliever nor from a sinner nor from a beast. All of that is disliked according to the hadiths. And "day" is a term meaning that the curse is upon them in this world and on the Day of Resurrection. Then the reason necessitating that was mentioned, which is their disbelief in their Lord. And "they disbelieved" is transgressed without a preposition, as it means "they denied," just as you say "I thanked you" and "I expressed gratitude to you," and "he denied his favor" and "denial of his favor." And "distance" is in the accusative case due to an implied action, which is the position of that action.