Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “The like of the practice of the people of Noah, and 'Ad, and Thamud, and those who came after them. And Allah does not intend injustice for the servants.”

Then He replaced it with His saying: Da'b means custom. He mentioned the people of Noah because he was the first messenger sent to the people of the earth. All of these are ancient, from a distant era before Musa and before Pharaoh, so they are among the earliest messengers. 'Ad is conjoined to "people" (qawm), and it is not correct to say it is conjoined to Noah, because if it were conjoined to Noah, the meaning would be "the like of the people of 'Ad," and the speech would not be coherent. Rather, it is "the like of 'Ad," and they are the people of Hud, and Thamud are the people of Salih, among the nations. It will come later that he referred to Yusuf (peace be upon him), the son of Ya'qub, the son of Ibrahim.