And 'Ad and Thamud! And indeed (their destruction) is clearly apparent to you from their (ruined) dwellings. Shaytan made their deeds fair seeming to them, and turned them away from the path, though they were intelligent (38)And Qarun, Fir'awn, and Haman. And indeed Musa came to them with clear Ayat, but they were arrogant in the land, yet they could not outstrip Us (39)So, We punished each for his sins, of them were some on whom We sent a Hasib, and of them were some who were overtaken by As-Sayhah, and of them were some whom We caused the earth to swallow, and of them were some whom We drowned. It was not Allah Who wronged them, but they wronged themselves (40)

Allah tells us about these nations who disbelieved in their Messengers, and how He destroyed them and sent various kinds of punishments and vengeance upon them. 'Ad, the people of Hud, peace be upon him, used to live in the Ahqaf (curved sand-hills), near Hadramawt, in the Yemen. Thamud, the people of Salih, lived in Al-Hijr, near Wadi Al-Qura. The Arabs used to know their dwelling place very well, and they often used to pass by it. Qarun was the owner of great wealth and had the keys to immense treasures. Fir'awn, the king of Egypt at the time of Musa, and his minister Haman were two Coptics who disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger, peace be upon him.

فَكُلًّا أَخَذْنَا بِذَنْبِهِ ۖ 

(So, We punished each for his sins,) their punishments fit their crimes.

فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِ حَاصِبًا

(of them were some on whom We sent a Hasib,) This was the case with 'Ad, and this happened because they said: "Who is stronger than us?" So, there came upon them a violent, intensely cold wind, which was very strong and carried pebbles which it threw upon them. It carried them through the air, lifting a man up to the sky and then hurling him headlong to the ground, so that his head split and he was left as a body without a head, like uprooted stems of date palms.

وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَخَذَتْهُ الصَّيْحَةُ

(and of them were some who were overtaken by As-Sayhah,) This is what happened to Thamud, against whom evidence was established because of the she-camel who came forth when the rock was split, exactly as they had asked for. Yet despite that they did not believe, rather they persisted in their evil behavior and disbelief, and threatening to expel Allah's Prophet Salih and the believers with him, or to stone them. So the Sayhah struck them, taking away their powers of speech and movement.

وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ خَسَفْنَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ

(and of them were some whom We caused the earth to swallow,) This refers to Qarun who transgressed, he was evil and arrogant. He disobeyed his Lord, the Most High, and paraded through the land in a boastful manner, filled with self-admiration, thinking that he was better than others. He showed off as he walked, so Allah caused the earth to swallow him and his house, and he will continue sinking into it until the Day of Resurrection.

وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَغْرَقْنَا

(and of them were some whom We drowned.) This refers to Fir'awn, his minister Haman and their troops, all of whom were drowned in a single morning, not one of them escaped.

وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ

(It was not Allah Who wronged them,) in what He did to them,

وَلَٰكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ 

(but they wronged themselves.) that happened to them as a punishment for what they did with their own hands.