His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And We sent down from the heaven blessed water, and We caused to grow thereby gardens and the grain of the harvest. And tall palm trees with clustered fruit. A provision for the servants, and We revived thereby a dead city. Thus is the emergence." The people of Noah and the companions of the well and Thamud denied before them. And 'Aad and Pharaoh and the brothers of Lot. And the companions of the thicket and the people of Tubba'. All denied the messengers, so the threat was justified. Did We tire of the first creation? Rather, they are in doubt about a new creation." His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And We sent down from the heaven blessed water," it is said: this means all rain, all of it is characterized by blessing. Even if some of it causes harm at times, it still contains that specific harm along with general blessing. Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "When the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, saw the rain and the gutters flowing, he said: 'There is no drought upon you this year.'" Some of the interpreters said: "Blessed water" refers to specific water, pure for blessing, which Allah sends down every year, and not all rain is characterized by that. And the grain of the harvest is wheat, barley, and similar plants that are beloved and harvested. And "the harvest" is an attribute of something omitted. Mujahid said: the grain of the harvest is wheat. And "tall" means: long and reaching into the sky. From this is the saying of Abu Nufal about Ibn Hubayrah: "O son of those whose seriousness caused them to rise above Qais and visit him." And Qutbah ibn Malik narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that he read: "tall" with a ص (sad). Abu al-Fath said: the original is س (seen), and the ص (sad) is a substitute for it due to the elevation of the ق (qaf). And "the cluster" is the first appearance of the dates in the unripe state, and it is white and arranged like pomegranate seeds. As long as they are attached to each other, it is نَضِيدٌ (clustered). When it separates from the unripe state, it is no longer نَضِيدٌ. And "provision" is in the accusative as a source, and the pronoun in: "thereby" refers back to the rain. He described the city as "dead" in consideration of the region and the land. The people read: "dead" in a light form, and Abu Ja'far and Khalid read: "dead" in a heavy form. Then He clarified, blessed and exalted is He, the point of similarity and said: "Thus is the emergence." All these verses are examples and evidence for resurrection, and "the emergence" refers to the emergence from the graves. And "the companions of the well" are a people who had a great well called the well. Everything that is not covered from a well or a mine or similar is called رَسّ (ras). Abu Ubaidah recited for al-Nabighah al-Ja'di: "You have preceded to an excess of water, while the diggers are digging the wells." And a prophet named Hanzalah ibn Safwan came to them, as it has been narrated, and they placed him in the well and buried him, so Allah destroyed them. And Ka'b al-Ahbar said in the book of al-Zahrawi: the companions of the well are the companions of the trench. This is weak; because the companions of the trench did not deny a prophet, rather it was a king who burned a people. And al-Dahhak said: the well is a well in which the companion of Yaas was killed. Al-Mundhir said: and it has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, that they are the people of 'Aad.

'The al-Ayka' is a tangled tree, and they are the people of Shu'ayb, peace be upon him. The definite article 'al' in 'al-Ayka' is not definite because 'Ayka' is a proper noun like 'Talhah.' It is said: Ayka and Layka, so it is like the definite article in 'the sun' and 'the moon' and in the predominant attributes. There is a consideration in this. Abu Ja'far, Nafi', Shaybah, and Talhah read 'al-Ayka' with a hamzah.

And 'the people of Tubba'' are Himyar, and 'Tubba'' is a name among them. Tubba' goes and comes, like Kisra among the Persians and Qaysar among the Romans. As'ad Abu Karb was one of the Tubba' and a righteous man who accompanied two scholars and learned from them the religion of Musa, peace be upon him. Then his people denied that, so he urged them to argue with the two scholars, and a great debate occurred between them. They agreed that they would all enter the fire that is in the sacrifice, and whoever was consumed by it is the one who is false. So they entered, and the people of Tubba' burned, while the two scholars emerged with their foreheads sweating. Thus, the opposing people perished, and the rest of the people of Tubba' were safe with the religion of the two scholars. In the narration, there is much disagreement, but I have confirmed the most accurate of that according to what is in the Sirah of Ibn Hisham. Al-Tabari mentioned from Sahl ibn Sa'd that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Do not curse Tubba' for he had embraced Islam.' Al-Thalabi mentioned from Ibn Abbas that Tubba' was a prophet.

His saying, the Exalted, 'Everyone,' Sibawayh said: the implication is: all of them, and it was omitted for brevity, and the threat that has been established is what was previously decreed regarding the punishment of the disbelievers and the destruction of the lying nations. In this, there is a warning for those who denied Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him.

And His saying, the Exalted, 'Did We tire in the first creation?' is a reprimand for the disbelievers and a clear proof against them. This is because their response to this reprimand is: there was no tiredness. Yet they are still in confusion regarding the resurrection. This is a contradiction. It is said: 'A'yaa ya'ya' if he is unable to do the matter, and this past action is merged with this action, but the future of it is not merged, so it is said: 'Ayyya.' And from this is the saying of the poet:

They were perplexed by their matter just as The dove was perplexed by its egg.

And 'the first creation' is the creation of man from a drop gradually as is known. Al-Hasan said: the first creation is Adam, peace be upon him, and this was narrated by al-Rummani. And 'the confusion' is doubt and uncertainty and the mixing of views. And 'the new creation' is the resurrection from the graves.