"So when they saw it"—they saw the punishment—"as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said, 'This is a cloud bringing us rain.'" They thought it was a cloud, and rain had been delayed for them. Allah said, "Nay, but it is that which you were asking to be hastened: a wind within which is a painful punishment," [that is,] agonizing.
﴿فَلَمَّا رَأَوْهُ﴾ رَأَوْا الْعَذَاب ﴿عَارِضًا مُسْتَقْبِلَ أَوْدِيَتِهِمْ قَالُوا هَذَا عَارض مُمْطِرنَا﴾ حسبوه سحابًا، وَكَانَ قد أَبْطَأَ عَنْهُم الْمَطَر، قَالَ اللَّه: ﴿بَلْ هُوَ مَا استعجلتم بِهِ﴾ لما كَانُوا يستعجلون بِهِ هودًا من الْعَذَاب استهزاءً وتكذيبًا ﴿رِيحٌ فِيهَا عَذَاب أَلِيم﴾ موجع.
