Qatadah read: 'We will destroy,' with the opening of the noon, from 'ahlakah' meaning 'He destroyed him.' Al-Ajaj said: 'And the important one is doomed from the path.' The important one is the desolate expanse. It is said: 'He destroyed him' and 'he perished.' From it: 'doomed from the path.' 'Araj' and 'ta'araj' means to descend in the place. 'Al-khareet' is the guide knowledgeable of the narrow paths, just as the needle has a hole, meaning: the guide does not hope for an exit from it if he enters it, so what about others, and with that, he cut it by traveling.

Then we will follow them with elevation on resumption, and it is a threat to the people of Mecca. He means: then we will do to others like them what we did to the first ones, and we will lead them on their path because they denied like their denial. The reading of Ibn Mas'ud strengthens it: 'Then we will follow them.' It was also read with the jasm for conjunction with 'we will destroy.' Its meaning is that He destroyed the first ones from the people of Noah, 'Aad, and Thamud, then He followed them with the others from the people of Shu'ayb, Lut, and Musa. Likewise, such a heinous act we will do to everyone who commits a crime as a warning and caution from the consequences of the crime and its bad effects.