His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And to Midian, their brother Shu'ayb. He said, 'O my people, worship Allah and hope for the Last Day, and do not commit corruption in the land.'" "But they denied him, so the earthquake seized them, and they became in their homes fallen on their knees." "And 'Aad and Thamud, and it has become clear to you from their dwellings, and the devil adorned for them their deeds, so he turned them away from the path, while they were discerning."

"Shu'ayb" is in the accusative case due to an implied verb that is appropriate with the context: 'and We sent' or 'and We appointed.' Shu'ayb, peace be upon him, was commanded to worship Allah, the Exalted, and to believe in resurrection and the Last Day. With belief in it, his hope is valid. Abu 'Ubaydah went to the meaning: 'and fear.' And "do not commit corruption" means: you cause corruption. It is said: 'Atha ya'athu,' and 'Atha ya'ithu,' and 'Atha ya'thi' if he corrupted. The people of Midian are the people of Shu'ayb; this is based on the fact that it is the name of the town. It is said: Midian is the name of the tribe. The "companions of the thicket" are different from them, and it is said: they are some of them, because their disobedience regarding the matter of weights and measures was one. And "the earthquake" refers to the shaking of the earth with them, its trembling upon them, and its convulsions with them. This is similar to sinking, and from it is the spreading of news. And "the fallen on their knees" - in this context - is a metaphor, meaning: their falling to the ground was like the fallen on their knees of birds and animals. From it is the saying of Labid:

'So I rose in the darkness of the night, and its birds were a group on the lush thicket, fallen on their knees.'

And His saying: "And 'Aad" is in the accusative case due to an implied verb, its estimation being: 'and mention 'Aad.' It is said: it is conjoined to His saying: "And We certainly tested those before them" [Al-Ankabut: 3].

And 'Thamud' was read by 'Asim, Abu 'Amr, and Ibn Wathab. And 'Thamud' was read without tanween by Abu Ja'far, Shaibah, and Al-Hasan. And Yahya ibn Wathab read: "And 'Aad and Thamud" with the genitive case in both and tanween.

Then, the exalted and glorified one indicated what the lesson gives from the remnants of their dwellings and the signs of their homes and the proximity of their traces. Al-Amash read: "It has become clear to you their dwellings" without "from." And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And the devil adorned for them" is a conjunction of one sentence to another. And "the path" is the way of faith in Allah, the Exalted, and His messengers, and the method of salvation from the Fire. And His saying: "while they were discerning," Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, and Al-Duhak said: it means: they had insight in their disbelief and admiration for it, and persistence upon it, so He condemned them for that. It is said: they had insight that the message and the signs were true, but they - despite that - disbelieved out of stubbornness, and misguidance led them to their ignorance and destruction. This runs parallel to His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And they denied it while their souls were certain of it, out of injustice and arrogance" [An-Naml: 14]. And the adornment of the devil is through whispers and the secret conversations of people's hearts. And the adornment of Allah, the Exalted, of a thing is through creation, and the creation of love for it and the attachment to it in the soul of the servant.