Muhammad said: The root of (zukhruf) is gold, then it is applied to ornamentation, light, and decoration. Everything that is adorned is (zukhruf).
"And its people thought that they were capable of it," meaning: they were capable of benefiting from what was in it of crops.
"Our command came to it by night or by day, so We made it a harvest," meaning: what was in it has vanished.
"As if it had not flourished the day before," as if what was in it of standing crops did not exist the day before.
Muhammad said: The meaning is: as if it had not been inhabited the day before. Al-maghani (the flourishing places) are the dwellings, the singular of which is maghna. You say: "I resided in the place" when I have stayed in it.
"Thus do We explain the signs for a people who give thought," He says: He who caused this crop to grow in the barren earth until it became a beautiful crop, then destroyed it after its beauty and splendor, is capable of resurrecting the dead; and only those who give thought accept and understand that.
