Surah 46. Al-Ahqaf, Ayah 25

Lit., "then they became so that .. .", etc. See {69:6-8}, describing the sandstorm which destroyed the tribe of 'Ad without leaving any trace of them.

Here is the figure of speech known in rhetoric as aposiopesis, to heighten the effect of the suddenness and completeness of the calamity. In the Arabic text, the verb asbahu, in the third person plural, leads us to expect that we shall be told what they were doing in the morning. But no! They had been wiped out, and any small remnant had fled (see n. 1040 to vii. 65). Nothing was to be seen but the ruins of their houses.