Tafsir of Al-Mu'minoon 23:32

(Then We sent among them a messenger from among themselves) He is either Hud or Salih, peace be upon them both. The first is what has been transmitted from Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with them both—and it is the view held by the majority of exegetes. It is supported by the Almighty’s statement narrating the words of Hud: "And remember when He made you successors after the people of Nuh," and by the occurrence of the story of 'Ad after the story of the people of Nuh in Surah Al-A'raf, Surah Hud, and others.

Abu Sulayman al-Dimashqi and al-Tabari chose the second view (Salih), and they argued for it by the mention of the Sayhah (the blast/shout) at the end of the story. It is known that the people of Salih were the ones destroyed by it, rather than the people of Hud. The answer to this will come, God willing.

The "century" (qarn) is made an adverbial container for the sending, as in the Almighty’s statement: "Likewise have We sent you to a nation," not an endpoint as in the Almighty’s statement: "Verily We sent Nuh to his people." This is to signal from the very beginning that the one sent to them did not come from outside their place, but rather originated among them.

The An (that) in the Almighty’s statement: (That you worship Allah) is explanatory, as the act of sending implies the meaning of speaking; i.e., We said to them through the tongue of the messenger: "Worship Allah." It is also permissible for it to be an infinitive particle (masdariyyah), and there is no obstacle to its connection with an imperative verb while a preposition is implied before it—meaning: "We sent among them a messenger with the command that you worship Allah alone; you have no god other than Him. Will you not then fear Him?"