His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "And certainly We sent to nations before you, so We seized them with hardship and adversity, that perhaps they might humble themselves." "So if only when Our punishment came to them, they had humbled themselves! But their hearts became hardened, and Satan adorned for them what they were doing." "So when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened to them the doors of everything, until when they rejoiced in what they were given, We seized them suddenly, and then they were in despair." "So the end of the people who wronged was cut off, and praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds."

In the speech, there is an omission indicated by the apparent context; its estimation is: "So they denied, and We seized them"; and its meaning is: "We followed them; and we pursued them step by step."

And "al-basa'" refers to calamities in wealth; and "al-dharra'" refers to calamities in bodies; this is the saying of the majority; and it is said: each one may be placed in place of the other; and Allah, the Exalted, educates His servants with hardship and adversity; and from there, the worshippers educate their souls with hardship; in the distribution of wealth; and adversity; in the burden on the body; in hunger; and nakedness.

And the expectation in "perhaps"; in this context; is based on human belief; meaning: "If anyone saw that, they would hope for their humility because of it"; and "humility" means: submission; and in the proverb: "Indeed, the fever has made me humble to You"; and the meaning of the verse is a threat to the disbelievers; and an example for them; and "if only" is an encouragement; and it is that which follows the action with the meaning of "why not"; and this is in the context of admonishing a guilty absent one; and revealing the evil of his actions; with some regret for him; and the meaning is: "When the beginnings of hardship came to them; and its signs; and it is the recurrence of hardship and adversity; and "hardened" means: became hard; and it is an expression of disbelief; and the attribution of adornment to Satan; and Allah, the Exalted, has said in another verse: "Thus We adorned for every nation their deeds" [al-An'am: 108]; because the causation of Satan and his whispering brings the beauty of disbelief into their hearts; and that which is brought forth; Allah creates it; so if it is attributed to Allah, the Exalted, it is because He is its Creator; and to Satan, it is because he is its cause.

And His saying, the Exalted, "So when they forgot"; the verse; expressed abandonment by forgetting; when it reached the aspects of abandonment that come with forgetting; and the removal of the abandoned from the mind.

And Ibn 'Amir read in what has been narrated from him: "We opened"; with emphasis on the letter; and "everything" means: "of that which had been closed off to them by hardship and adversity; of worldly blessings"; so it is a general meaning with a specific implication; and "they rejoiced" means: they became arrogant; and they were pleased; and they were impressed; and they thought that this would not perish; and that it was indicative of Allah, the Exalted, being pleased with them"; and this is a form of entrapment from Allah, the Exalted; and it has been narrated from some scholars that he said: "May Allah have mercy on a servant who contemplates this verse: "Until when they rejoiced in what they were given, We seized them suddenly"; and Muhammad ibn al-Nadr al-Harith said: "The people were given respite for twenty years"; and 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir narrated that the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - said: "If you see Allah, the Exalted, giving the servants what they desire while they are disobedient, then that is entrapment"; then he recited "So when they forgot"; the entire verse.

'And 'We seized them' in this context means: We eradicated them; and we overpowered them. And 'suddenly' means: unexpectedly. The operative phrase here is 'We seized them,' which is a source in the state of the condition; it cannot be measured against by Sibawayh. And 'the despondent' is the sad, astonished, one who is hopeless for good, who cannot provide a response due to the severity of what has befallen him from misfortune.

And His saying, the Exalted, 'So the end of the people was cut off'; the phrase 'the end' refers to the last of the matter, which he turns away from; meaning: it comes from behind him. From this is the saying of the poet:

So they were destroyed by a punishment that cut off their end ∗∗∗ So they could not repel it nor defend themselves.

And the saying of another:

And it was claimed by 'Ulya

A despised one, and her wrapping ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ that I am alone, my end has been severed.

And this is a metaphor for the eradication of their influence and the obliteration of their traces; as if they encountered the punishment until the last of them, who turned away from them, arrived. And 'Ikrimah read: 'So he cut off' with a فتح on the qaf and the ta, and 'the end' with a نصب.

And praise is good after this verse; for the beauty of the preceding actions; in that the Exalted sent the messengers; and was gentle in taking them with hardship and distress; so that they might supplicate to Him; that He may have mercy and bestow blessings. And He cut off in the end the root of their oppression; and that is good in itself; and a blessing upon the believers. So praise is good following these actions; and with the praise of Allah, the Exalted, every action and every saying should conclude; there is no Lord other than Him.