Tafsir of Hud 11:59-60

{And that is ‘Ad} This is a reference to their graves and their ruins. It is as if He said: "Travel through the land, look at them, and take heed."

Then He resumes the description of their state, saying: {They rejected the signs of their Lord and disobeyed His messengers.} Because when they disobeyed their own messenger, they effectively disobeyed all of God’s messengers, for "we make no distinction between any of His messengers" (Qur'an 2:285). It is said that no one was sent to them except Hud alone.

{Every obstinate tyrant} He means their leaders, their elders, and those who called them to deny the messengers. The meaning of "following their command" is obeying them. Since they followed them instead of the messengers, the curse was made to follow them in both worlds, casting them upon their faces into the punishment of God.

The particle {Ala} (Lo!), and its repetition alongside the call, serves to emphasize their disbelief and invoke a curse upon them. It is a means of magnifying their affair, making it abhorrent, and inciting others to take heed of them and beware of a fate like theirs.

If you ask: {Ba‘dan} (Away with them!) is a prayer for destruction; what is the meaning of praying for their destruction after they have already been destroyed? I say: Its meaning is to indicate that they were deserving of it. Do you not see the poet’s words: "My brothers, may you never perish!" "Yet, by God, they have indeed perished."

{The people of Hud} This is an explanatory apposition (‘atf bayan) for ‘Ad. If you ask: What is the benefit of this clarification when the meaning is already clear without it? I say: The benefit is to mark them with this specific designation, establishing it as a confirmed fact about them, leaving no room for doubt. Furthermore, there are two ‘Ads: the first is the ancient one, which is the people of Hud—the subject of this story—and the other is Iram.

{And to Thamud [We sent] their brother Salih. He said, "O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. He brought you into being from the earth and settled you in it, so ask forgiveness of Him and then repent to Him. Indeed, my Lord is near and responsive."

They said, "O Salih, you were among us a man of promise before this. Do you forbid us to worship what our fathers worshipped? Indeed, we are in disquieting doubt about that to which you invite us."

He said, "O my people, have you considered: if I am upon clear evidence from my Lord and He has given me mercy from Himself, who would protect me from Allah if I disobeyed Him? So you would not increase me except in loss.

And O my people, this is the she-camel of Allah—[she is] to you a sign. So let her feed upon Allah’s earth and do not touch her with harm, or you will be seized by an imminent punishment."

But they hamstrung her, so he said, "Enjoy yourselves in your homes for three days. That is a promise not to be denied."

So when Our command came, We saved Salih and those who believed with him, by mercy from Us, and from the disgrace of that day. Indeed, it is your Lord who is the Powerful, the Exalted in Might.

And the shriek seized those who had wronged, and they became [corpses] fallen prone within their homes—as if they had not prospered therein. Unquestionably, Thamud denied their Lord. Unquestionably, away with Thamud!}