Then Allah mentions the destruction of the nations that denied the Resurrection. He says,

﴿فَأَمَّا ثَمُودُ فَأُهْلِكُواْ بِالطَّاغِيَةِ ﴾

(As for Thamud, they were destroyed by the Taghiyah!) It is the cry which will silence them, and the quake that will silence them. Qatadah said similar to this when he said, "At-Taghiyah is the shout.'' Mujahid said, "At-Taghiyah means the sins.'' This was also said by Ar-Rabi` bin Anas and bin Zayd. They said that it means transgression. After mentioning this, Ibn Zayd recited the following Ayat as proof for his statement,

﴿كَذَّبَتْ ثَمُودُ بِطَغْوَاهَآ ﴾

(Thamud denied through their transgression.) Then Allah says,

﴿وَأَمَّا عَادٌ فَأُهْلِكُواْ بِرِيحٍ صَرْصَرٍ﴾

(And as for `Ad, they were destroyed by a wind Sarsar) meaning, a cold wind. Qatadah, As-Suddi, Ar-Rabi` bin Anas and Ath-Thawri all said about,

﴿عَاتِيَةٍ﴾

(`Atiyah) "This means severe blowing of the wind.'' Qatadah said, "It blew fiercely upon them until it pierced their hearts.'' Ad-Dahhak said,

﴿صَرْصَرٍ﴾

(Sarsar) "This means cold, and

﴿عَاتِيَةٍ﴾

(`Atiyah) means, it blew fiercely upon them without any mercy or blessing.'' `Ali and others said, "It blew fiercely upon their stored harvest until it was brought out worthless.''

﴿سَخَّرَهَا عَلَيْهِمْ﴾

(Which Allah imposed on them) meaning, He made it overpower them.

﴿سَبْعَ لَيَالٍ وَثَمَـنِيَةَ أَيَّامٍ حُسُوماً﴾

(for seven nights and eight days Husum,) Husum means, complete, successive and unfortunately evil. Ibn Mas`ud, Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Ath-Thawri and others all said, "Husum means in succession.'' It has been reported that `Ikrimah and Ar-Rabi` bin Khuthaym both said, "It means it was unfortunately evil upon them.'' This is similar to Allah's statement,

﴿فِى أَيَّامٍ نَّحِسَاتٍ﴾

(in days of calamity) (41: 16) It has been said that it is that which people now call A`jaz (apparently used to mean evil devastation). It seems as though the people took this term from Allah's statement,

﴿فَتَرَى الْقَوْمَ فِيهَا صَرْعَى كَأَنَّهُمْ أَعْجَازُ نَخْلٍ خَاوِيَةٍ﴾

(so that you could see the people lying toppled, as if they were A`jaz (trunks) of date palms, Khawiyah!) Ibn `Abbas said about,

﴿خَاوِيَةٍ﴾

(Khawiyah) "It means ruined.'' Others besides him said, "It means dilapidated.'' This means that the wind would cause one of them (palm tree) to hit the ground, and it will fall down dead on his head. Then his head would shatter and it would remain a lifeless corpse as if it were without branches, motionless. It has been confirmed in the Two Sahihs that the Messenger of Allah said,

«نُصِرْتُ بِالصَّبَا وَأُهْلِكَتْ عَادٌ بِالدَّبُور»

(I was helped by an easterly wind and the people of `Ad were destroyed by a westerly wind.)

﴿فَهَلْ تَرَى لَهُم مِّن بَاقِيَةٍ ﴾

(Do you see any remnants of them) meaning, `do you find any one of them left or anyone who even attributes himself to being from them' Rather they are all gone, right down to the last of them, and Allah did not make for them any successors. Then Allah says,

﴿وَجَآءَ فِرْعَوْنُ وَمَن قَبْلَهُ﴾

(And Fir`awn and those before him committed (sin)) This has been recited with a Kasrah under the letter Qaf (in the word Qabalahu, as Qiblahu), which changes the meaning to those who were with him in his time, and they were his followers who were disbelieving Coptic people. Others recited it with a Fathah over the letter Qaf (as the word Qablahu), which means those nations before him who were similar to him. Concerning Allah's statement,

﴿وَالْمُؤْتَفِكَـتِ﴾

(the overthrown cities) those nations that rejected their Messengers.

﴿بِالْخَاطِئَةِ﴾

(committed Al-Khati'ah.) Al-Khati'ah means their rejection of what Allah revealed. Ar-Rabi` said,

﴿بِالْخَاطِئَةِ﴾

(committed Al-Khati'ah.) "This means disobedience.'' Mujahid said, "They committed errors.'' Thus, Allah says,

﴿فَعَصَوْاْ رَسُولَ رَبِّهِمْ﴾

(And they disobeyed their Lord's Messenger, ) meaning they were all of the same type, they all denied the Messenger of Allah who was sent to them. As Allah says,

﴿كُلٌّ كَذَّبَ الرُّسُلَ فَحَقَّ وَعِيدِ﴾

(Everyone of them denied the Messengers, so My threat took effect.) So whoever denies a Messenger, then verily, he denies all of the Messengers. This is as Allah says,

﴿كَذَّبَتْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ الْمُرْسَلِينَ ﴾

(The people of Nuh belied the Messengers)

﴿كَذَّبَتْ عَادٌ الْمُرْسَلِينَ ﴾

(`Ad belied the Messengers.)

﴿كَذَّبَتْ ثَمُودُ الْمُرْسَلِينَ ﴾

(Thamud belied the Messengers.) However, only one Messenger came to every nation. Thus, Allah says here,

﴿فَعَصَوْاْ رَسُولَ رَبِّهِمْ فَأَخَذَهُمْ أَخْذَةً رَّابِيَةً ﴾

(And they disobeyed their Lord's Messenger, so He seized them with a punishment that was Rabiyah.) Rabiyah means, great, severe and painful. Mujahid said, "Rabiyah means severe.'' As-Suddi said, "It means destructive.''