His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So how many a town We destroyed while it was wronging itself, so it lies in ruins on its roofs, and a well abandoned, and a lofty palace." "Have they not traveled through the earth so that they would have hearts by which to reason or ears by which to hear? For indeed, it is not the eyes that are blind, but it is the hearts that are within the chests that are blind." "And they urge you to hasten the punishment, and Allah will not fail in His promise. And indeed, a day with your Lord is like a thousand years of what you count." "And how many a town I gave respite to while it was wronging itself, then I seized it, and to Me is the final destination."

"How many" is the 'kaf' of comparison that has entered upon "any": Sibawayh said this. I have elaborated on the meaning of this term and its reading in Surah Al-Imran, in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And how many a prophet..." [Al-Imran: 146]. It is a term of reporting, and it may come as a question. Al-Firuzabadi narrated: "How many do you have?" meaning: "How much do you have?" A group read: "We destroyed it," and another group read: "It destroyed it" in the singular, and the intended meaning is the people of the town. "Wronging" means: by disbelief, and "in ruins" means: empty. From it: "The star has become empty when it is devoid of strength," and similar to it is "fallen on its roofs." "The roofs" are the ceilings, so the meaning is that the ceilings have fallen, then the walls have collapsed upon them, so they are on the roofs.

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And a well abandoned," it is said: it is connected to "the roofs," and it is said: to "the town," and this is more correct. A group read: "And a well" with a hamzah on the 'ya', and the majority simplified it. A group read: "abandoned" with a fatha on the 'm' and a sukoon on the 'ain' and a fatha on the 'ta' and lightening it, and the majority are on "abandoned" with a dammah on the 'm', a fatha on the 'ain', and a shadda on the 'ta'. "The lofty palace" is the building made of plaster, and it is said: the lofty one is the elevated one made of bricks and similar to it. From the lofty is the saying of Udayy ibn Zayd:

He built it with plaster and covered it with tiles, so for the birds in its heights are nests.

He built it: he constructed it with plaster, and the more apparent in the verse is that he intended: he elevated it with the plaster. And a group said in this verse: "Lofty means: elevated and fortified, and the meaning of the verse implies that it was thus before its destruction."

Then He reproached them for their heedlessness and neglecting to take heed by His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Have they not traveled through the earth?" meaning: in the lands to observe the conditions of the nations that denied and were punished. And this verse implies that reason is in the heart, and that is the truth, and it is undeniable that the brain has a connection to the heart which causes the corruption of reason whenever the brain is disturbed. His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So that they would have" was made accusative by the 'fa' in response to the question, the verb was shifted from the jussive to the accusative.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "So indeed, the eyes do not become blind" is a term of exaggeration, as if He said: blindness is not the blindness of the eyes, but rather true blindness is the blindness of the heart. It is known that the eyes can become blind, but the intended meaning is what we have mentioned. This is His saying, blessings and peace be upon him: "The strong is not the one who overcomes others in wrestling," and "The poor is not the one who goes around begging." The pronoun in "So indeed, it" refers to the story and similar things in estimation. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "Which is in the chests" is an exaggeration, like His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "With their mouths," and as you say: I looked at him with my eyes, and similar to this.

And the pronoun in "And they hasten you" refers to Quraysh. And His saying: "And Allah will not fail in His promise" is a warning and a notification that everything is to a limited time. The promise here is conditioned by punishment, and that is why it is mentioned in a disliked manner.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And indeed, a day with your Lord is like a thousand years"; one group said: And indeed, a day of the days of Allah's punishment is like a thousand years of what you count from this due to the length of the punishment and its misery. So it is as if the meaning is: how ignorant is the one who hastens this. And another group said: And indeed, a day with Allah, due to His encompassing it and His knowledge and the execution of His power, is like a thousand years with you.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This interpretation implies that ten thousand years are to an endless number in the ruling of the thousand. However, they said: He mentioned the thousand because it is the limit of the number without repetition, so he confined himself to it.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this interpretation does not fit the verse. And a group said: The meaning is that a day with Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is a thousand years from this number. From that is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "I hope that my nation will be delayed half a day," and His saying: "The poor among the Muslims will enter Paradise before the rich by half a day, and that is five hundred years." And from it is the saying of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them: The measure of reckoning on the Day of Resurrection is a thousand years. So it is as if the meaning is: And if the delay is long, then it is in one of the days of Allah.

And He repeated His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And how many" because it brought another meaning. He first mentioned the destroyed towns without prolongation, but rather after the denial. Then he mentioned the neglected ones so that these would not rejoice in the delay of punishment from them. And one group read: "You count" with a ت, and another group read: "They count" with a ي in the absent form.