Surah 41. Fussilat, Ayah 14

Cf.{6:8-9} and 15:7 .

Lit.. "from between their hands and from behind them": i.e., reminding them of something that was known to them - namely, what happened to sinners like themselves who lived before their time - and warning them of what was bound to happen in the future to them, too, if they persisted in their denial of the truth (Al-Hasan al-Basri, as quoted by Zamakhshari). However, it is possible to understand the above phrase (which has been explained in note [247] on 2:255 ) in yet another, more direct way: God's message-bearers pointed out to those sinning communities something that should have been obvious to them (lit., "between their hands")- namely, their patently wrong attitude in their worldly, social concerns and moral concepts - as well as the unreasonableness of their denying something that was still beyond their ken (lit., "behind them"): namely, life after death and God's ultimate judgment.

"From before them and behind them": i.e., from every side. They were warned from every point of view.

Cf. xv. 7, n. 1941; vi. 8-9, n. 841-42. The 'Ad had more power and material civilisation than the Pagan Arabs contemporary with the holy Prophet. But the greater the material civilisation, the greater the arrogance as the besetting sin.