His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And the people of Noah before. Indeed, they were the most unjust and the most transgressive﴾ ﴿And the overturned cities He hurled down﴾ ﴿So He covered them with what He covered﴾ ﴿So in which of the favors of your Lord do you dispute?﴾ ﴿This is a warner from the warners of old﴾ ﴿The approaching event has drawn near﴾ ﴿There is no remover of it besides Allah﴾ ﴿So are you amazed at this narration?﴾ ﴿And you laugh and do not weep﴾ ﴿While you are proudly indulging﴾ ﴿So prostrate to Allah and worship﴾

"The phrase 'the people of Noah' is mentioned as a continuation of 'Thamud.' His saying, exalted and glorified is He: 'before' indicates that they were the first nation to deny among the people of the earth. Noah is the first of the messengers. He made them 'the most unjust and the most transgressive' because they were the first to deny without following anyone before them. Also, they were in a state of extreme arrogance. The age of Noah, peace be upon him, was long in calling them to faith. A man would come to him with his son and say: 'I warn you against this man for he is a liar. My father warned me against him and told me that my grandfather warned him against him.' Their morals continued in this manner for a thousand years except for fifty years.

'And the overturned cities' is the village of the people of Lot, peace be upon him, according to the consensus of the interpreters. The meaning of 'the overturned' is that it was turned upside down; because it was turned over and overturned. From it is 'ifk' because it is the turning of the truth into falsehood. Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan read 'and the overturned cities' in the plural. 'He hurled down' means He threw it down from a high place to below. This is what has been narrated that Gabriel, peace be upon him, uprooted it with his wing until he raised it close to the heavens, then all fell down. Then they were followed by stones, which Allah, blessed and exalted is He, covered them with.

His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿So in which of the favors of your Lord do you dispute?﴾ is addressing the disbelieving human, as if it were said to him: 'This is Allah who has these actions, and He is your Creator who has bestowed upon you all blessings. So in which of them do you doubt?' 'Do you dispute' means: do you doubt? Ya'qub read: 'your Lord disputes' with one emphasized 't.' Abu Malik al-Ghifari said that His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿No bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another﴾ [An-Najm: 38] to His saying: 'do you dispute' is in the scriptures of Abraham and Moses, peace be upon them.

His saying, exalted and glorified is He: 'This is a warner' may refer to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. This is the saying of Qatadah, Abu Ja'far, and Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi. It may refer to the Qur'an, which is the interpretation of a group. Abu Malik said that the reference of this warner is to what has passed from the news of the nations. 'Warner' may be a noun or it may be a source. 'Nazar' is the plural of 'warner.' He said: 'of old' meaning that it is in rank, descriptions, and status from those who preceded. It is more likely that the reference is to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him.

His saying, exalted and glorified is He: 'The approaching event has drawn near' means: the near event has approached. 'The approaching event' is a term for the Day of Resurrection according to the consensus of the interpreters. 'Azwaf' means: it has come very close. Ka'b ibn Zuhayr said:

The youth has departed and old age has approached, And I do not see a replacement for the departing youth.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Kashifah" may be a description for a feminine noun. The meaning is: a revealing state, or a revealing favor, or a revealing effort. Al-Rummani said: or a group. It may also be a noun like "the consequence" and "the treachery of the eyes." It may also mean "revealing" with the 'h' for emphasis, as He, exalted is He, said: ﴿So do you see for them any remaining?﴾ [Al-Haaqqa: 8]. As for the meaning of "Kashifah," Al-Tabari and Al-Zajjaj said: it is from revealing the secret, meaning: there is no one besides Allah who reveals it at that time and knows it. Al-Zahrawi said about Mundhir ibn Sa'id: it is one who reveals harm and wards it off, meaning: there is no one who reveals its terror and its affair. Talhah read: "There is no one among what you invoke besides Allah who is revealing, and it is upon the wrongdoers that the covering is bad."

And "this hadith" is the Qur'an. And His saying, exalted is He: "So is one who...?" is a pause and a reprimand. In the reading of Ubayy and Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with them, it is "You are amazed" and "You laugh" without the conjunction 'wa.' Al-Hasan read: "You are amazed, you laugh" with the 'ta' in both being pronounced with a dammah and the 'jeem' and 'ha' being broken, and the conjunction 'wa' omitted. And in His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And do not weep" is an encouragement to weep upon hearing the Qur'an. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Indeed, this Qur'an was revealed to frighten, so when you recite it, weep. If you do not weep, then pretend to weep," as mentioned by Al-Thaalibi.

And "the samid" is the one who plays and is heedless. With this, Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, and others among the interpreters explained it. The poet said:

"It was said: Stand and look at them, Then leave off the samid."

And "samada" in the language of Himyar means to sing. All of this has meanings that are close to one another. Al-Tabari narrated from Abu Khalid Al-Walibi, who said: Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, came out to us while we were standing waiting for the prayer and said: What is it that I see you samid? The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It seems that he saw them in discussions and similar matters which he thought were a form of heedlessness. Ibrahim said: They disliked waiting for the imam's emergence while standing. In the hadith: "When the prayer is established, do not stand until you see me."

Then He, exalted is He, commanded prostration and the worship of Allah as a warning and fright. And here is a prostration in the saying of many of the people of knowledge, among them Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, which has come in authentic hadiths. Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, does not see it. Zayd ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "He recited it in the presence of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and did not prostrate."

The interpretation of Surah [An-Najm] is complete, and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.