His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And We did not send down upon his people after him any soldiers from the heaven, nor were We to send down." "It was but one shout, and then they were extinguished." "O how regretful for the servants! There did not come to them any messenger except that they used to ridicule him." "Did they not see how many generations We destroyed before them, that they do not return to them?" "And indeed, all of them will be brought before Us." This is an address to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, in which there is a threat to Quraysh. This is what terrifies them about the example that may befall them from the punishment of Allah, as it befell the people of Habib the carpenter. So, exalted and glorified is He, negated that He did not send down upon the people of this man any soldiers from the heaven. Mujahid said: He meant that He did not send a messenger nor did He seek to hold them accountable. Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said: He meant that He did not need to punish them with soldiers from the soldiers of Allah, like stones, drowning, and wind, and other than that, but it was just one shout; because they were easier and simpler than that. Qatadah said: By Allah, Allah did not admonish His people after killing them until He destroyed them. The interpreters differed regarding His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And We were not to send down." A group said: "What" is negating, and this aligns with the second interpretation of His saying, glorified is He: "And We did not send down upon his people after him any soldiers." Another group said: "What" is conjunction to "soldiers," meaning: "from soldiers and from that which We were to send down upon nations like them before that." The majority read: "except one shout" with the accusative, as a report of (was), meaning: Their punishment was nothing but one shout. Abu Ja'far and Mu'adh ibn al-Harith read: "except one shout" with the nominative, and Abu Hatim weakened it. The reasoning behind it is that it is not (was) that requires a subject and predicate, but rather the estimation is: It did not occur or happen except one shout. Ibn Mas'ud and Abdur-Rahman ibn al-Aswad read: "except one crowing" which is the shout of the rooster and similar birds. "Extinguished": silent, dead, lying on the ground, likened to the ashes whose fire has been extinguished.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿ "O regret!" ﴾ is a call to it with the meaning: this is the time of your presence and appearance. This is the estimation of a call like this according to Sibawayh, and it is a valid meaning in itself. It is an unknown calling according to this recitation. Al-Tabari said: the meaning is: O regret of the servants for themselves. He mentioned that it is in some of the recitations likewise. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: the meaning is: O woe to the servants. Ibn Abbas, Al-Dahhak, Ali ibn Al-Husayn, Mujahid, and Ubayy ibn Ka'b read: "O regret of the servants," with the addition. The saying of Ibn Abbas is good with his recitation, and Al-Tabari's interpretation in that first recitation is not clear. It is more appropriate that the meaning is a longing for the servants, as the situation would necessitate it. The nature of every human compels them, upon hearing their situation and their punishment for disbelief and their neglect of the command of Allah, the Most High, to feel compassion and regret for the servants. Abu Al-Aliyah said: the intended servants are the three messengers, so this regret is from the disbelievers when they saw the punishment of Allah, longing for what had escaped them. And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿ No messenger comes to them ﴾, this verse refutes this interpretation. And regret is the longings that leave its owner exhausted. Al-A'raj, Muslim ibn Jundub, and Abu Al-Zinad read: "O regret!" stopping at the 'h', and that is for the emphasis on clarifying the meaning of regret and establishing it for the soul. Pronouncing the 'h' in such a case is more eloquent in evoking compassion and shaking the soul, like their saying: 'Oh!' and the like. And His saying: ﴿ No messenger comes to them ﴾ is an example of the actions of Quraysh. (p-247) Then He addressed them with His saying: ﴿ Did they not see how many We destroyed ﴾, and "how many" here is informative, and "that they" is a substitute for it. And the vision is the vision of sight. In the reading of Ibn Mas'ud: "Did they not see who We destroyed?" The majority read "that they" with the opening of the 'alif', while Al-Hasan Al-Basri broke it. The majority read: "for what" with the lightening of the 'm', and that is for the increase of (what) for emphasis, and the meaning is, "for all." Al-Hasan, Ibn Jubair, and Asim emphasized it, saying: it is placed in the status of (except), and it is said: the intended meaning is: (for what) one of them was omitted, and there is weakness in it. And in the reading of Ubayy: [And there is none of them except that all are present with Us], Qatadah said: they are gathered on the Day of Resurrection.