Tafsir of Al-Mu'minoon 23:31-32

{Then We brought forth after them another generation} {A generation We established}: They are ‘Ad, the people of Hud, according to Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both). This is supported by Allah the Exalted’s narration of Hud’s words: {And remember when He made you successors after the people of Nuh} (Al-A‘raf: 69), and the fact that the story of Hud follows the story of Nuh in Surah Al-A‘raf, Surah Hud, and Surah Ash-Shu‘ara’.

If you ask: The verb arsala (to send) should properly be transitive via the preposition ila (to), like its counterparts such as wajjaha (to direct), anfadha (to dispatch), and ba‘atha (to send). Why, then, is it sometimes transitive via ila in the Qur’an, and other times via fi (in), such as His saying: {Thus have We sent you into (fi) a nation} (Ar-Ra‘d: 30), and {And We have not sent into (fi) any city a warner} (Saba’: 34)? And here: {Then We sent among (fi) them a messenger}, meaning among ‘Ad, while in another place it says: {And to (‘ila) ‘Ad [We sent] their brother Hud} (Al-A‘raf: 65, Hud: 50)?

I reply: It is not made transitive via fi in the same way it is via ila, nor is it treated as a direct object. Rather, the "nation" or "city" is treated as a location for the sending, as the poet Ru’bah said: I sent into it (fiha) Mus‘ab, a man of great daring. The verb ba‘atha (to send) has also been used in this manner in His saying: {And had We willed, We could have sent into (fi) every city a warner} (Al-Furqan: 51).

{That} (an): This is an explanatory particle (mufassirah) for the verb "We sent," meaning: We said to them through the tongue of the messenger: {Worship Allah}.

{And the eminent among his people who disbelieved and denied the meeting of the Hereafter and whom We had given luxury in the worldly life said, "This is not but a human being like yourselves. He eats of that from which you eat and drinks of what you drink. And if you should obey a human being like yourselves, indeed, you would then be losers."}