His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "Or are you amazed that a reminder has come to you from your Lord through a man from among you, to warn you? And remember when He made you successors after the people of Noah and increased you in creation abundantly. So remember the favors of Allah that you may succeed." They said, "Have you come to us to worship Allah alone and to forsake what our forefathers used to worship? Then bring us what you promise us if you are among the truthful."

The saying regarding "Or are you amazed" has been previously mentioned; and "the reminder" is a general term for admonitions, commands, and prohibitions. His saying - glorified and exalted is He - "And remember"; the verse enumerates the blessings upon them. And "successors" is the plural of "successor"; like "witty" is the plural "wits"; and "successor" has the plural "successors". The Arabs say: "successor" and "successor". Abu Ali recited:

If a successor arises, his successor exists, And what is the successor of Abu Wahb but existent.

(s-595) Al-Suddi and Ibn Ishaq said: The meaning is: "He made you inhabitants of the earth after the people of Noah - peace be upon him."

And His saying - glorified and exalted is He - "And He increased you in creation abundantly"; that is, in creation; and "abundantly" means perfection in height and width. It has been said: "He increased you over the people of your time." Al-Tabari said: The meaning is: "He increased you over the people of Noah," and this was said by Qatadah.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: The wording implies that the increase is over all of creation; and this is what is implied regarding them. It has been narrated that the height of a man among them was one hundred cubits, and the height of the shortest among them was sixty; and similar to this.

And "the favors" is the plural of "favor"; like "the measure" is the plural of "measures". Al-Zajjaj recited:

A white one who does not fear the thinness, nor Cuts off a womb, nor betrays.

And it has been said: The singular of favors is "favor"; like "the follower"; and it has been said: One of them is "favor"; like "the blessing"; and it is the blessing and the grace. And "you may succeed" means: you attain your desires and hopes.

Al-Tabari said: And 'Aad, these - according to what Ibn Ishaq narrated - are from the descendants of 'Aad ibn Iram ibn Aws ibn Sam ibn Nuh. Their dwellings were in the Shahr region of the land of Yemen; and what was adjacent to Hadramawt to Oman. And Al-Suddi said: They were in the Ahqaf; which are the sands; and their land was the most fertile of lands; so Allah, the Exalted, turned it into deserts. And Ali ibn Abi Talib said: Indeed, the grave of Hud - peace be upon him - is there in a red dune mixed with clay that has tamarisk and sidr. And they had spread throughout all the land; and they possessed much by their strength; and their number; and they wronged the people; and they were thirteen tribes; and they were people of idols; among which is what is called Sidah; and among them is Sumud; and among them is Al-Hayah. So Allah, the Exalted, sent to them Hud - peace be upon him - from the best of them; and the one with the most noble lineage among them. He called them to the oneness of Allah, the Exalted; and to abandon wrongdoing. Ibn Ishaq said: He did not command them in what is mentioned with anything other than that; so they denied him and were obstinate; and this continued from them until Allah, the Exalted, intended to carry out His command; so He withheld the rain from them for three years; and they suffered from that. And the people in that time, when a matter troubled them, would flee to the Sacred Mosque in Mecca; and they would call upon Allah, the Exalted, therein; glorifying Him; both their believers and disbelievers; and the people of Mecca at that time were the 'Amaliq; and their leader was a man named Muawiyah ibn Bakr. So 'Aad gathered to prepare a delegation from among them to Mecca; to ask Allah, the Exalted, for rain for them; so they sent Qail ibn 'Iyr; and Laqim ibn Hazzal; and 'Uqayl ibn 'Udd ibn 'Aad the elder; and Marthad ibn Sa'd ibn 'Afayr; and this one was a believer who concealed his faith; and Jalhamah ibn Al-Khaybari; with seventy men from their people. So when they arrived in Mecca, they stayed with Muawiyah ibn Bakr who was outside the Sacred Mosque; so he hosted them; and they stayed with him for a month drinking wine; and the two female singers - who were singers for Muawiyah - would entertain them. So when Muawiyah saw the length of their stay; and they had been sent by 'Aad for help; he felt pity for 'Aad; and the son of his maternal aunt Kalhadhah bint Al-Khaybari Jalhamah said: My uncles have perished; and it was difficult for him to order his guests to leave him; so he complained about that to the two female singers; and they said to him: Compose poetry that we may sing it; perhaps it will alert them. So he said:

O Qail, woe to you, arise, for it is time Perhaps Allah will send us rain.

And He will water the land of 'Aad; indeed, 'Aad has become silent, not speaking a word.

From the severe thirst, so we do not hope For the old man nor the young boy.

And indeed, their women were in good condition; but their women have now become widows.

And indeed, the wild beasts come to them openly; and they do not fear arrows from 'Aad.

And you are here in what you desire; your day and your night are complete.

So cursed be your delegation from the delegation of a people; and they did not greet with a greeting or peace.

So the two grasshoppers sang with it. When the people heard it, some of them said: O my people, your people have sent you for what has befallen them. So enter this sanctuary and pray; perhaps Allah, the Exalted, will aid them. So they went out for that purpose. Then Merthad ibn Sa'd said to them: By Allah, you will not be given drink by your supplication; but if you obey your Prophet and believe in him, you will be given drink. And he manifested his faith that day. The delegation opposed him and said to Muawiyah ibn Bakr and his father Bakr: Keep Merthad away from us; let him not enter the sanctuary with us; for he has followed Hud. They proceeded to Mecca, and Qail ibn Iyr sought rain and said: O our God, if Hud is righteous, then give us drink; for we have perished. So Allah, the Exalted, created three clouds: white, red, and black. Then a caller from the cloud called out: O Qail, choose for yourself and your people from this cloud. Qail said: I have chosen the black one, for it has the most water. Then it was proclaimed: You have chosen a cloud that will not leave from 'Aad anyone; neither parent nor child, except that it will make them dust. And Allah, the Exalted, drove the black cloud that Qail had chosen to 'Aad until it came upon them from a valley of theirs called: Al-Mughith. When they saw it, they said: This is a rain-bearing cloud for us; until it became known that it was a wind from a woman of 'Aad called: Mahdad. She screamed and was struck down. When she regained consciousness, she was asked: What did you see? She said: I saw a wind like the flames of fire; in front of it were men leading it. Allah, the Exalted, subjected it to them for eight days of destruction and seven nights. And 'Al-Husum' means: the continuous. It did not leave from 'Aad anyone except that they perished. Hud and those with him took refuge in a shelter; nothing of the wind affected him except what he enjoyed from it.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: This is a story that occurred in the interpretation of Al-Tabari in detail; and in it is disagreement; so I have summarized the essence of that according to brevity. In their report, it is said that the wind was striking them with stones and lifting the women, so that one would throw her into the sea. In their report, it is said that one of their strong men would block the wind with himself until it overwhelmed him and threw him into the sea, and another would take his place; until all perished. Zayd ibn Aslam said: It has reached me that a hyena raised her young in the ruins of one of them. In their report, it is said that Allah, the Exalted, sent - when 'Aad perished - birds, and it was said: lions, which carried their corpses until they cast them into the sea. So that is His saying, the Exalted: 'So they became visible only in their dwellings' [Al-Ahqaf: 25]. And in some of what has been narrated about them, it is said that the wind was never sent except with a measure; except that day; for it was completed upon the guardians, and it overwhelmed them. So that is His saying - blessed and exalted is He -: 'So they were destroyed by a fierce, violent wind' [Al-Haaqqa: 6]. And it has been narrated that Hud - when 'Aad perished - descended with those who believed with him to Mecca; and they remained there until they died. And Allah, the Exalted, knows which of that was.

And His saying, exalted is He, ﴿They said, 'Have you come to us'﴾; the apparent meaning of their words alone is that they denied leaving their idols and dedicating worship solely to Allah, exalted is He, while they acknowledged the Creator, the Originator. It is possible that they were denying Allah, exalted is He, and their saying: ﴿'Let us worship Allah alone'﴾; means according to your words, O Hud. The first interpretation is clearer for them and for all idol worshippers. No one among the disbelievers denies the Lordship of Allah, exalted is He, except for one whose ignorance is extreme, like Arbad ibn Rabee'ah; or one who claims it for himself, like Fir'awn and Nimrud. And their saying: ﴿'So bring us'﴾; is a determination to deny and a contempt for the matter of prophethood, and a hastening for the punishment. Their saying: 'You promise us' is established since this promise is explicitly stated in evil; and if the mention of the promise were absolute, it would only come in good.