Did they not travel through the land and observe the consequences for those who were destroyed, such as 'Aad and Thamud and other arrogant nations? Then He began to describe to them their conditions, that they were stronger than them. They cultivated the land and plowed it. Allah, the Most High, said: 'There is no ox that plows the land.' It was said that the plowing cattle are called 'the plowers.' They said: 'It was named a bull for its plowing of the land and a cow because it splits it.' And they populated it, meaning those who were destroyed populated it more than the inhabitants of Makkah populated it. The people of Makkah are people of a valley that does not have crops; they have no ability to plow the land at all, nor to cultivate it. So it is nothing but mockery of them and of their weak condition in this world, because most of what the people of the world rely on and boast about is agriculture, and they are also weak in strength. So His saying that they were stronger than them refers to 'Aad and Thamud and their like. This is like His saying: 'Did they not see that Allah, who created them, is stronger than them?' Although this is more eloquent, because He is the Creator of strength and power. Thus, His destruction of them was not an injustice to them, because His condition is contrary to injustice. However, they wronged themselves by doing what necessitated their destruction.