As to the Thamud,(4484) We gave them Guidance, but they preferred blindness (of heart) to Guidance: so the stunning Punishment(4485) of humiliation seized them, because of what they had earned.
4484 The story of Thamud usually goes with that of 'Ad. Cf. 36:140-59; also 7:73- 79, and n. 1043. 4485 "The stunning Punishment": i.e., deafening noises like those of thunder and lightning; or the rumbling of a terrible earthquake. In 7:78, an earthquake is suggested, see n. 1047 to that verse. Cf. also above, 41:13.