Surah Adh Dhariyat Tafseer

مَا تَذَرُ مِن شَيْءٍ أَتَتْ عَلَيْهِ

It spared nothing that it reached,

meaning, everything that the wind could destroy,

إِلاَّ جَعَلَتْهُ كَالرَّمِيمِ

but blew it into broken spreads of rotten ruins.

meaning, made it just like a rotten and destroyed.

Sa`id bin Al-Musayyib and others commented on:

إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الرِّيحَ الْعَقِيمَ

(when We sent against them the barren wind),

"Southerly winds."

However, there is a Hadith in the Sahih from Shu`bah bin Al-Hakam, from Mujahid, from Ibn Abbas, who said that the Messenger of Allah said,

نُصِرْتُ بِالصَّبَا وَأُهْلِكَتْ عَادٌ بِالدَّبُور

I have been made victorious with the Saba (easterly wind), and the people of `Ad were destroyed with the Dabur (westerly wind).

Allah saying,

وَفِي ثَمُودَ إِذْ قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَمَتَّعُوا حَتَّى حِينٍ