Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

137. “This (preaching) is naught but a custom of the ancients.”

138. “And we are not going to be punished.”

139. “So they belied him, then We destroyed them; verily in this is a sign; but most of them do not believe.”

140. “And verily your Lord, certainly He is the Mighty, the Merciful.”

The ancestors’ deviation is a preparation for the deviation of the later generations, so the Qur’an in this verse announces that the people of Hud told him:

“This (preaching) is naught but a custom of the ancients.”

The people of Hud expressed that, contrast to the statement of Hud, they would be chastised neither in this world nor in Hereafter.

The verse says:

“And we are not going to be punished.”

The Arabic word /xuluq/ means: ‘habit, style, and manner’, and since this word has been used here in its singular form in the sense of character, temper, and characteristic custom, it refers to the deeds they used to commit, such as: idolatry, building beautiful strong buildings, boasting by means of constructing fortresses and castles on heights, and also being unjust in punishments and retributions.

This means that they said what they were doing was the same thing that their ancestors customarily did and it could not be a matter to be objected.

Some Islamic commentators have rendered it into lie and falsehood. In this case, it means that his words about the Lord and Resurrection were some lies that had been told from before.

Following this matter, the holy Qur’an explains the painful destiny of this group of people as follows:

“So they belied him, then We destroyed them...”

And, at the end of this event, the Qur’an repeats the same two expressive instructive sentences that were stated at the end of the stories of Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

It says:

“...verily in this is a sign; but most of them do not believe.”

These concluding comprehensive sentences mean that in this event there is a clear sign concerning the Power of Allah, Prophets’ perseverance, and the evil fate of the tyrants and oppressors, yet most of them did not believe.

“And verily your Lord, certainly He is the Mighty, the Merciful.”

This verse means that your Lord conciliates and respites enough, but at the time of punishment He is so strict that there remains no chance of flee for any body.