Tafsir of At-Talaq 65:10

This is a reiteration of the threat and an exposition of what necessitates the piety commanded by His saying, the Exalted: "So fear Allah, O people of understanding." It is as if it were said: Allah, the Exalted, has prepared this punishment for them, so let that be for you, O people of understanding, a motive to fear Allah, the Exalted, and to be wary of His punishment.

Al-Kalbi said: The speech involves precedence and postponement, and the intent is: "So We punished them with a severe punishment" in this world—with hunger, drought, the sword, and other calamities and afflictions—"and We called them to a severe account" in the Hereafter.

The manifest view is that His saying, "prepared," etc., is also a reiteration of the threat. It is permitted that "severe account" refers to the exhaustive examination of their sins and their recording in the scrolls of the scribes (the angels), and "severe punishment" refers to what afflicted them immediately. One may also regard the sentence "and [they] rebelled..." as an adjective for "a city," and the past tense in "so We called them to account and We punished them" as being in its literal sense.

The predicate of "how many" is the sentence "Allah has prepared," etc., or one may regard the sentence "and [they] rebelled," etc., as the predicate, while the sentence "Allah has prepared," etc., is an inception to explain that their punishment is not limited to what was mentioned, but that there is a severe punishment for them after it.

His saying, the Exalted: "Those who believe," is in the accusative case by the implied verb "I mean," as an elucidation for the preceding vocative, or an adjective for it, or an explanatory apposition. There is a weakness in regarding it as a substitute for it (badal) because it is not correct for it to take its place.

"Allah has sent down to you a Reminder."

This is the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace; he is referred to as such due to his persistence, peace and blessings be upon him, in reciting the Qur’an, which is the Reminder, or his conveying and reminding [the people] with it.