His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And We made between them and the cities which We blessed, cities apparent, and We determined therein the journey: Travel therein for nights and days, secure.﴾ ﴿So they said, 'Our Lord, distance between our journeys.' And they wronged themselves, so We made them tales and scattered them all over. Indeed, in that are signs for every patient and grateful one.﴾

This verse and what follows describe their state before the flood came. It is that Allah, blessed and exalted is He, despite what was from them, granted them from the two gardens and the special blessing for them. He had made the lands connected to them prosperous and inhabited, and made them its masters. He determined therein the journey by bringing the cities closer to one another, so that the traveler from Ma'rib to Sham would spend the night in one village and take a midday rest in another village. Thus, he would not need to carry provisions. And 'the cities' refers to the towns, and a small collection is also called a village. All of them are from: 'Qaraytu,' meaning 'I gathered.' The cities that were blessed are the cities of Sham, by consensus of the interpreters. The apparent cities are those between Sham and Ma'rib, which are the small ones that are the outskirts. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: They are Arabic villages between Medina and Sham. This was also said by Al-Dahhak. There is a difference in the meaning of 'apparent.' One group said it means: elevated and high in hills and ridges, and they are the noblest of the cities. Another group said: Some of them appear from others, so they are always in the sight of the traveler, and he does not miss seeing something of them in this way. What appears to me is that the meaning of 'apparent' is: outside the cities, so it refers to the small villages that are on the outskirts of the cities. He distinguished with this description between the small villages and the absolute villages which are the towns. The outskirts of the cities are what is beyond them in the wilderness and the pastures. From this is their saying: 'We camped at the outskirts of so-and-so,' meaning: outside it. And His saying: 'apparent' is akin to the naming of people as the Bedouins and the outskirts. From this is the poet's saying:

If a group from Quraysh witnessed me, Quraysh of the plains, not Quraysh of the outskirts.

Meaning those outside the plain of Mecca. And in the hadith of seeking rain: 'And the people of the outskirts came complaining: The flood, the flood.'

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿And We determined therein the journey﴾, is what we mentioned that the traveler therein would spend the night in one village and take a midday rest in another, on any path he took, without it being lacking. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿Travel therein﴾ means: We said to them. And [secure] means: from the fear of corrupting people, and secure from hunger and thirst and the calamities of the traveler.

Then he narrated from them a saying they uttered in a state of arrogance and pride. It is the request for distance between the journeys, and the declaration that they are far from the other readings. This is because Nafi', Asim, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "Make our journeys distant" with a kasrah on the 'ayn, meaning the request as well. So, these two meanings indicate their pride in that they grew weary of the blessing of closeness and sought to replace what is lesser with what is better. In the book of Al-Rummani, it is mentioned that they said: If the harvesting of our fruits were farther away, it would be more famous and of greater value. Ibn Al-Samif'ah, Sufyan ibn Husayn, Said ibn Abi al-Hasan - the brother of Al-Hasan - and Ibn Al-Hanifiyyah read: "Our Lord" in the accusative, "Make our journeys distant" with a fatha on the ba and a dammah on the 'ayn, and the accusative of "between" as well. Said ibn Abi al-Hasan - from this group - read: "between" in the nominative and added it to the journeys. Ibn Abbas, Abu Rujai, Al-Hasan Al-Basri, and Ibn Al-Hanifiyyah also read: "Our Lord" in the nominative, "Make distant" with a fatha on the 'ayn and dal. Ibn Abbas, Ibn Al-Hanifiyyah as well, Amr ibn Fayd, and Yahya ibn Amr read: "Our Lord" in the nominative, "Make distant" with a fatha on the 'ayn and a shaddah on it and a fatha on the dal. This reading means the declaration that they distanced themselves from the near, and they saw that this was unconvincing to them, until they seemed to want it connected to the houses. In this is a harshness and discontent with the decrees of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, and a lack of gratitude for His blessings. Rather, it is the response to the blessing with complaint. In this meaning and similar to it, they wronged themselves, so Allah, glorified and exalted is He, scattered them, destroyed their lands, and made them tales. Among them is the well-known proverb: "They scattered like the hands of Sheba," and "the hands of Sheba" is said in both ways. This is their fragmentation in every way. It has been narrated that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Indeed, Sheba is the father of ten tribes." When the flood came to Ma'rib, which is the name of their city, six tribes among them turned to the right, meaning they dispersed in the land of Yemen, and four became pessimistic from them. The ones who turned to the right are Kinda, Al-Azd, Ash'ar, and Madhhij, and Anmar from which comes Bajilah and Khath'am. A group was called: Himyar, which retained the name of the first father, and those who became pessimistic are Lakhm, Judham, Ghassan, and Khuzay'ah, who settled in Tihamah. From these pessimistic ones are the children of Qaylah, who are the Aws and the Khazraj, and from them is 'Amilah and others.

Then Allah, glorified and exalted is He, informed Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and his nation - in the context of warning - that these stories contain signs and lessons for every believer in completeness. Whoever is characterized by patience and gratitude is the believer who lacks no beautiful quality in appearance.