17. That is, if they do not believe that God and Deity is One and only One, Who has created this earth and the whole universe, and if they still persist in their ignorance that they would make others as their deities beside Him, others who are in fact His creatures and slaves, and regard them as His associates in His Being and rights and powers, then warning for them is like that of what stuck Aad and Thamud.
18. This sentence can have several meanings:
(1) That the Messengers continued to come to them one after the other.
(2) That the Messengers tried in every way to make them understand the truth and did not leave any stone unturned to bring them to the right path.
(3) That the Messengers came to them in their own country as well as in the adjoining countries.
19. That is, if Allah had disapproved of our religion, and had willed to send a messenger to us to keep us away from it, He would have sent the angels. As you are not an angel but a man like us, we do not believe that you have been sent by God, and sent for the purpose that we give up our religion and adopt the way of life that you are presenting. The disbelievers’ saying that they deny, what you have been sent with, was only sarcastic. It does not mean that they believed him to have been sent by God and then denied what he said. But this is a sarcastic expression of the type that Pharaoh had uttered before his courtiers about the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him): This messenger of yours, who has been sent to you, seems to be utterly mad. (Surah Ash-Shuara, Ayat 27). For further explanation, see (E.N. 11 of Surah YaSeen).
20. “Evil days” does not mean that the days in themselves were evil or ill-omened, and the torrent came because the people of Aad met with those evil or ill-omened days. If this were the meaning and there were some ill omen in the days themselves, the torment would have visited all the nations of the world. The correct meaning, therefore, is that since in those days God’s torment descended on this nation, the days were evil or ill-omened for the people of Aad. It is not correct to argue on the basis of the verse that some days are ill-omened and some auspicious.
The lexicographers have disputed the meaning of the words rih-an sarsaran, which have been used for the stormy wind. Some say that they imply an intensely hot wind, others say that they imply an extremely cold wind, and some others say that they imply a wind which produces a great noise when it blows. In any case, they all agree that the words are used for a severe storm.
The details of this torment given at other places in the Quran show that this wind continued to rage for seven nights and eight days consecutively. It swept the people off the ground and they fell down dead and lay scattered here and there like hollow trunks of the palm-tree. (Surah Al- Haaqqah, Ayat 7). It left rotting everything on which it blew. (Surah Adh-Dhariyat, Ayat 42). When the people of Aad saw it advancing, they rejoiced with the hope that the dense clouds would bring much rain, which would water their withering crops. But when it came, it laid waste the entire land. (Surah Al-Ahqaf, Ayats 24-25).
21. This ignominious torment was an answer to their arrogance and vanity because of that which they had assumed greatness in the land without any right, and would boast that there was none more powerful than them on the entire earth. Allah disgraced them and destroyed the major part of their population along with their civilization. The remnant of their population was humbled and debased before those very nations whom they used to overawe by their show of power and might (for the details of the story of Aad see (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayats 65-72); (Surah Houd, Ayats 50-60); (Surah Al-Muminun, Ayats 32-41); (Surah Ash- Shuara, Ayats 123-140); (Surah Al-Ankabut, Ayat 40) and the relevant E.Ns).