Al-Qamar (The Moon): 23. Thamud denied the warnings.

This has been previously explained. However, in the story of 'Ad, He said: {They denied} (Al-Qamar: 18) and did not say: "with the warnings" (bi-n-nudhur). In the story of Noah, He said: {The people of Noah denied the warnings} (Ash-Shu'ara: 105).

This supports what we mentioned: that the meaning of His saying {Before them, the people of Noah denied} (Al-Qamar: 9) is that their custom and doctrine was to deny and reject the Messengers. Thus, they denied Noah based on their established doctrine.

The reason for explicitly mentioning "the warnings" here is that every subsequent people who receive two Messengers (as Thamud did) are, in reality, denying all Messengers. The later deniers deny all Messengers in truth, while the earlier ones deny only one Messenger in truth, yet their denial necessitates denying those who come after them. This is because when they denied the preceding message—that God is One, the Resurrection will occur, and He will send subsequent Messengers with the same message and doctrine—it logically required them to deny those subsequent Messengers as well.

This is indicated by the fact that God said concerning the people of Noah: {So they denied him, and We saved him} (Al-A'raf: 64), and concerning 'Ad: {'Ad denied the signs of their Lord and disobeyed His Messengers and followed the command} (Hud: 59).

As for His saying {The people of Noah denied the Messengers} (Ash-Shu'ara: 105), it refers to their denial and their speech which led to the denial of all Messengers. This is why He used the plural definite form (al-Mursaleen) to imply totality. Furthermore, He later mentioned Noah saying: {My Lord, indeed my people have denied me} (Ash-Shu'ara: 117), and did not say: "they denied Your Messengers," indicating what they actually committed, not what was logically incumbent upon them.

Given this understanding, since the story of Thamud followed the mention of two Messengers (and their third Messenger), He said: {Thamud denied the warnings}.

This is all based on the view that an-Nudhur (the warnings) is the plural of Nadhir (warner) in the sense of the one who warns (mundhir).

Alternatively, if we hold that an-Nudhur refers to the actual warnings/signs themselves: The miracles shown during the time of Noah and 'Ad did not persist. As for Thamud, they were warned, and a she-camel emerged for them from a rock, which moved among them. When they denied, their denial was specifically directed at manifest warnings and signs, which is why it was explicitly mentioned here.

His subsequent statement {They said: Shall we follow a mere mortal man from among us? Indeed, in that case, we would surely be in error and madness} (Al-Qamar: 24) supports the first view. Whoever says, "I will not follow a mere mortal like myself," is denying all Messengers, as all Messengers are human.

The preposition bi- (with/by) in {with the warnings} (bi-n-nudhur) supports the second view. We have previously explained that when God mentions the denial of Messengers, He often omits the preposition, saying: {They denied him} (Al-A'raf: 64), {And they denied Our Messengers} (Ghafir: 70), {So they denied Our Servant} (Al-Qamar: 9), {And they denied Me} (Al-Mu'minun: 26). He also said: {And they denied Our signs} (Al-Anfal: 54), {And by Our signs} (Al-Baqarah: 39). He uses the preposition when the denial relates to the content (the lie/falsehood), because the speaker is the one who is truly lying, while attributing falsehood to speech or a saying is metaphorical. Since the attribution of denial to the speaker is more direct, the preposition is omitted, unlike when attributing it to speech. We have explained this thoroughly before.

7 < {They said: Shall we follow a mere mortal man from among us? Indeed, in that case, we would surely be in error and madness.} > 7