His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "He said, 'Indeed, knowledge is only with Allah, and I convey to you what I have been sent with. But I see you are a people who are ignorant.'" "So when they saw it as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said, 'This is a cloud bringing us rain.' Rather, it is that for which you hastened, a wind in it is a painful punishment." "It destroys everything by the command of its Lord. So they became not seen except for their dwellings. Thus do We recompense the criminal people." "And We had certainly established them in that which We had not established you. And We made for them hearing, and eyes, and hearts. But their hearing, and their eyes, and their hearts availed them not at all, when they were denying the signs of Allah. And there encompassed them what they used to ridicule." The meaning: Hud, peace be upon him, said to them: 'This warning is not from me, but the matter is for Allah, the Most High, and the knowledge of its timing is with Him. It is only upon me to convey.' The majority of the people read: "And I convey to you" with a fatḥah on the bā' and a shaddah on the lām. Abu Hatim said: Abu Amr read throughout the Qur'an with a sukoon on the bā' and a takhfif on the lām. And "I see you are a people who are ignorant" means: like this from the command of Allah, the Most High, and you are ignorant of the creation of yourselves. The pronoun in: "they saw it" may return to the punishment, and it may return to the visible thing that has appeared to them, which is what his saying: "as a cloud" has explained. The cloud is what appears in the sky from the raining clouds. Among them is the saying of Al-A'sha: 'O you who saw a cloud, I have been watching it, as if the lightning is in its edges.' Abu Ubaidah said: The cloud is that which is in the corners of the sky in the evening, then it becomes stable the next day. It has been narrated regarding the meaning of His saying, the Most High: "approaching their valleys" that these people had experienced drought for a period, and this cloud appeared to them in the form and direction from which they always receive rain, coming to them from a valley they call Al-Mughith. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, said: So they rejoiced in it and said: 'This is a cloud bringing us rain.' And he lied in what he promised. So Hud, peace be upon him, said to them: 'The matter is not as you see, but it is that for which you hastened in your saying: "Bring us what you promise."' Then he said: "A wind in it is a painful punishment." And in the reading of Ibn Mas'ud: "bringing us rain, Hud said: 'Rather, it is'" with the implied meaning being made clear, because the reading of the majority is like His saying, the Most High: "They enter upon them from every gate, 'Peace be upon you.'" Al-Zajjaj said: And a group read: "Rather, it is that for which you hastened" with a dhammah on the first tā' and a kasrah on the jīm, and "a wind" is a substitute for the subject in His saying: "It is that," and "bringing us rain" is an adjective for "a cloud," and it is an indefinite noun whose addition is not absolute, because the estimation is: 'bringing us rain in the future,' so it is in the ruling of separation. And the stories of the wind that blew upon them have passed in other than this surah, and that it carried the women like locusts. And "it destroys" means: it annihilates, and destruction is annihilation, and among them is the saying of Jarir:

And they had the she-camel of Thamud when it roamed for a long time, so it destroyed them completely.

And His saying, the Exalted: "Every thing" has an apparent meaning of generality, and its meaning is specificity in everything You commanded to be destroyed. It has been narrated that this wind cast them all into the sea.

Hamzah and Aasim read: "You do not see" with a ya (ي) on the verb form for the object, "their dwellings" in the nominative. The estimation is: You do not see anything of them. The majority of the reciters read: "You do not see except their dwellings," meaning: You do not see, O addressed one, anything of them. This is the reading of Ibn Mas'ud, Amr ibn Maymun, Al-Hasan - with a difference from him - Mujahid, Isa, and Talhah. Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan, Al-Jahdari, Qatadah, Amr ibn Maymun, Al-A'mash, Ibn Abi Ishaq, Abu Rija' and Malik ibn Dinar, meaning without disagreement from them specifically among those mentioned: "You do not see" with the ta (ت) dotted from above and with a dammah (ضمة) on it, "except their dwellings" in the nominative. It has been narrated from Ibn Amir, and this is similar to the saying of Dhul-Rumma:

As if he adorned an illusion, and nothing remained except the remnants and the boards and the fibers.

And similar to his saying:

Nothing remained except the ribs of the gnarled trees.

And in this reading, there is a compulsion. Al-A'mash and Isa read: "Their dwelling" in the singular which is the name of the genus, and the majority are on the plural in the wording. The aspect of the singular is to belittle the matter and bring it closer, as He, the Exalted, said: "Then He brings you out as infants" [Ghafir: 67].

Then the Exalted addressed Quraysh - in the context of admonition - with His saying, glorified is He: "And certainly We established them in what..." "What" means: that which, and "if" is negating, placed in the place of "what" so that the wording differs, and "what" does not connect with "what," as if the speech were saying: in that which We did not establish you. And the meaning of the verse is: And certainly We gave them from strength, wealth, and abundance in wealth and bodies what We did not give you, and they incurred this punishment due to their disbelief, so you are more deserving of that if you disbelieve. And a group said: "If" is conditional, and the answer is omitted, its estimation is: in that which if We established you in it, you transgressed. And this is an exaggeration in interpretation.

Then the Exalted enumerated for them the blessings of senses and perception, and informed that they did not benefit when they were not used as they should be. And "what" is negating in His saying, the Exalted: "So it did not benefit them..." And this is reinforced by the entry of "from" in His saying, glorified is He: "from anything." And a group said: "What" in His saying, the Exalted: "So it did not benefit them..." is an interrogative with the meaning of confirmation, and "from anything" - on this - is an affirmation, and this is contrary to the view of Sibawayh regarding the entry of "from" in the obligatory.

And "Haq" means: descended and adhered, and this is used in matters of hardship, and the meaning is: the recompense for what they used to mock.