His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And certainly they came upon the town which was rained upon with the rain of evil. Did they not see it? Rather, they were not hoping for resurrection." "And when they see you, they take you only in mockery. Is this the one whom Allah has sent as a Messenger?" "Indeed, he almost leads us astray from our gods, had it not been that we were patient upon them. And they will know when they see the punishment, who is more astray in the way." "Have you seen the one who has taken as his god his desire? Then would you be a guardian over him?" "Or do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are not except like the livestock; rather, they are more astray in the way." Ibn Abbas, Ibn Jurayj, and the group said: The reference is to the city of the people of Lot, which is [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN:Sodom] in the Levant. And "the rain of evil" refers to the stones of baked clay. Abu al-Samal read: "the rain of evil" with a heavy 's'. Then, He stopped them at their turning away and exposing themselves to the wrath of Allah, blessed and exalted is He, after they had seen the lesson from that town. Then, He judged that their disbelief was only caused by the corruption of their belief regarding the Hereafter, and that they do not hope for resurrection, and likewise, they do not fear it. Then Allah, exalted is He, narrated about them that when they saw Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, they mocked him and belittled him, and they distanced themselves from the idea that Allah, exalted is He, would send him as a Messenger. They said - in a mocking manner -: "Is this the one whom Allah has sent as a Messenger?" In "sent," there is a pronoun referring back to "the one" that has been omitted for brevity, and this is appropriate in the description. Then the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, was despaired of their disbelief by His saying, exalted is He: "Have you seen the one who has taken as his god his desire?" The meaning is: Do not be saddened for them and leave them to their opinion, and do not think that they are upon what you love of attainment. Rather, they are like livestock in their ignorance of benefits and their lack of awareness of consequences. Then He judged that they are more astray in the way in terms of having understanding and leaving it, and livestock have no way to understand benefits. And in terms of the ignorance of these people and their misguidance, it is regarding a matter more serious than the matter in which there is the ignorance of livestock. And His saying, exalted is He: "He has taken as his god his desire" means: He has made his desire obeyed, so he became like a god. And desire leads to all corruption, and the soul is inclined to evil. And righteousness is only when it commands for reason. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Desire is a god worshipped besides Allah, exalted and majestic is He. This was mentioned by al-Thalabi. And it was said: The reference in His saying: "his god is his desire" is to what they were upon, that they used to worship a stone, and when they found one better than it, they discarded the first and worshipped the second that their desire fell upon. Abu Hatim said, and it was narrated from a man from the people of Medina - Ibn Jinni said: He is al-A'raj - [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN:his god is his desire], and the meaning is: He has taken the sun to illuminate himself with, as the sun is said to be: a deity, and it can be declined or not declined. And "the guardian" is the one who is in charge of the matter and responsible for it.