'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' He, the Exalted, said: "Say, 'Call upon those whom you assert besides Him. They do not possess the power to remove hardship from you nor to change it.' Those are the ones whom they invoke, seeking a means of access to their Lord, which of them is nearer, and they hope for His mercy and fear His punishment. Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is to be feared." "And there is no city but We will destroy it before the Day of Resurrection or punish it with a severe punishment. That is in the Book inscribed." "And nothing has prevented Us from sending the signs except that the former peoples denied them. And We gave Thamud the she-camel as a visible sign, but they wronged her. And We do not send the signs except as a warning." The ones whom the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was commanded to say to in this verse are not the worshippers of idols, but rather they are the worshippers of those who have understanding. There is a difference of opinion regarding this - Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: It refers to the worshippers of Uzair, the Messiah, his mother, and others like them. Ibn Abbas also said: It refers to the worshippers of the sun, the moon, the stars, Uzair, the Messiah, his mother, and others like them. Ibn Abbas also said, and Ibn Mas'ud said: It refers to the worshippers of the angels. Ibn Mas'ud also said: It refers to the worshippers of the devils who were in the time of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him. Those devils embraced Islam, but their worshippers continued to worship them, so the verse was revealed regarding that. The meaning of the verse is: Say to these disbelievers: Call upon these deities in times of hardship and distress, for they do not possess the power to remove it or change it from you. Then he informed them - according to the reading of Ibn Mas'ud, and Qatadah: "You call upon" with the 'taa' - or the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, informed them - according to the reading of the majority: "They invoke" with the 'yaa' from below - that these deities seek to draw near to Allah and to gain favor with Him, and that this is the true state of their condition. Ibn Mas'ud read: "to your Lord." The pronoun in "their Lord" refers to the followers or to all of them. And "the means" is the closeness and the reason for reaching the goal. The seeking of a man when he is requested to draw near and attain something. And 'Antarah said: Indeed, men have a means to you. And from it is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Whoever asks Allah for the means... the hadith." And "which of them" is the subject, and "is nearer" is its predicate, and "those" refers to the deities. It is a subject with the predicate being "they seek," and the pronoun in "they invoke" refers to the disbelievers, and in "they seek" refers to the deities. The implication is: Their concern and effort is which of them is nearer. This is as Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said in the hadith of the banner at Khaybar: "So the people spent the night debating which of them would be given it," meaning: they competed in seeking closeness. And Al-Zajjaj elaborated on this point, so reflect on it. And Ibn Fawrak and others said: The speech from His saying, 'Blessed and Exalted is He': "Those are the ones whom they invoke" refers back to the prophets mentioned earlier, and "they invoke" - in this case - means they are calling upon Allah, the Exalted, and the pronouns refer to them in "they invoke" and in "they seek." The rest of the verse is clear.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And there is not a city..." This verse informs that there is no city among the cities except that it is doomed before the Day of Resurrection by death and destruction. This is with safety and it has taken it as a part, or it is punished, taken once. This is general for every city, and "from" is for indicating the type. It was said that the intended meaning is the specific, and the estimation is: "And there is not a city that is unjust." Al-Naqqash narrated that it was found in the book of Al-Dahhak ibn Muzahim in the interpretation of this verse an enumeration of the known cities today. He mentioned the destruction of every region from them with a description, then he mentioned something similar from Wahb ibn Munabbih. He mentioned in it that the destruction of Andalusia and its ruin would be by the hooves of horses and the discord of armies in it. He left the rest due to the lack of certainty in that. It is known that every city perishes either due to drought and sinking, or due to trials, or from both. The forms of that are many, and none knows them except Allah, glorified and exalted is He. As for what perishes by trials, it is due to injustice, and there is no doubt, either in disbelief or sins or negligence in defense. As for drought, Allah afflicts with it whom He wills, and so is sinking. And His saying, exalted is He: "Its destroyers" refers to it, and among that are the people. And His saying: "Or its punishers" is on the omission of a genitive, for no one punishes except the people. And His saying, glorified is He: "In the Book" means: in the previous decree and what the pen has written in the preserved tablet. And "the written" means: that which is written in lines.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And what prevented us from sending with the signs..." This phrase in "our preventing" is on the apparent meaning that the Arabs understand. He named the previous decree by the denial of those who denied and their punishment as prevention. And the first "that" is in the position of accusative, and the second is in the position of nominative, and the estimation is: "And what prevented us from sending except the denial."

The reason for this verse is that the Quraysh proposed to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, that he make for them the Safa gold, and some of them proposed that he remove the mountains from them so that they could cultivate the land. So Allah, exalted is He, revealed to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him: "If you wish, I can do that for them, but if they delay in faith, the punishment will come upon them quickly. And if I wish, I can wait for them, perhaps I will choose from them believers." The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Rather, wait for them, O Lord." So Allah, exalted is He, informed in this verse that He did not prevent sending the proposed signs except for the waiting; for His custom has been to hasten the punishment of the nations that came to them with the proposed signs and they did not believe. Al-Zajjaj said: Allah, exalted is He, informed that the appointed time for the disbelievers of this nation is the Hour, for His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "Rather, the Hour is their appointed time." This verse looks to that.

Then Allah, the Most High, mentioned the matter of Thamud as a rebuttal. Indeed, one of them said: 'We would have believed if an ayah had come to us that we had proposed, and we would not disbelieve in any way.' So, the mention of Allah, the Most High, of Thamud means: Do not feel secure that you will not wrong by the ayah as Thamud wronged with the she-camel. The majority read: 'Thamud' without tanween. Harun said: The people of Kufa do tanween 'Thamudan' in every way. Abu Hatim said: The general public and scholars do not tanween 'Thamud' in any of the ways, and in four places, an alif is written, and we read it without an alif.

And His saying, the Most High: 'mubṣirah' is in the sense of relation, meaning: with it is sight, as He, glorified and exalted is He, said: 'And We made the sign of the day mubṣirah' [Al-Isra: 12], meaning: with it is sight for those who look. And this is an expression of clarifying its matter and the clarity of its miracle. A group read: 'mubṣirah' with a dammah on the meem and a fatha on the sad, as reported by Al-Zajjaj, and its meaning is: made clear. And Qatadah read: 'mabṣirah' with a fatha on the meem and sad, and it is a masdar from basar, and from it is the saying of Antarah: (p-502)

'And disbelief is a disgrace for the one who is favored.'

And His saying, the Most High: 'So they wronged by it,' means: they placed the action in the wrong place, meaning: by slaughtering it. It is said: by disbelief in its matter. Then He, the Most High, informed that He only sends the ayat that are not proposed as a warning to the servants, and they are ayat with a delay, not hastening. From that are the eclipse, thunder, earthquakes, the rainbow, and others. Al-Hasan said: and death is a means. It has been narrated that Kufa trembled during the time of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, and he said: 'O people, indeed your Lord is seeking your repentance, so repent to Him.' And from this is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, regarding the eclipse: 'So flee to prayer.' The ayat of Allah that are to be considered fall into three categories: one category is general in everything; wherever you place your gaze, you find an ayah. Here is the thought of the scholars. A second category is customary, occurring occasionally, like thunder and eclipse, and here is the thought of the ignorant only. The third category is extraordinary, and it has ended with the conclusion of prophethood, and it is only to be considered as an illusion of what has passed from it.