Monuments on Top of Mountains

Allah (swt) has said about them:

A-tabnūna bi-kulli rīʿin āyatan taʿbathūn, wa tattakhidhūna maṣāniʿa laʿallakum takhludūn, wa idhā baṭashtum baṭashtum jabbārīn, fa-ttaqū Allāha wa aṭīʿūn. Allah (swt) said in these ayat that they became so luxurious and so wealthy that they were spending their money in a wasteful way: isrāf.

The people of ʿĀd had so much additional wealth, they started to fall into the trap that rich nations fall into, and that is using your money for pride and arrogance. After you satisfy your basic needs — food, and drink, and shelter — and you have additional money, if there is no īmān to spend it the right way, then it will be spent in evil.

The people of ʿĀd had this additional wealth, so they started building monuments over mountains. They would build on top of these mountains monuments that they will not use for living. They don't need them. They're just building them for pride, to show off. And Allah (swt) says: taʿbathūn. Do you build high palaces on every high place, while you do not live in them, wastefully? ʿAbath — ʿabath means when you waste something. So they had so much wealth, so much disposable money, that they started building these monuments on top of mountains.

Wa tattakhidhūna maṣāniʿa laʿallakum takhludūn. These buildings on top of mountains, they don't use them for living. But the dwellings that they built for themselves, they used to build in a way as if they're going to live forever: so strong and powerful. Wa tattakhidhūna maṣāniʿa laʿallakum takhludūn: and do you get yourselves palaces as if you will live forever? The way they would build their palaces shows that they used to think that they're going to live forever. They used to build them so strong, and well constructed — a very strong structure — as if they are going to live on the face of the earth forever. And Allah (swt), when He destroyed them, He destroyed them, and He didn't leave anything that they left, anything that they built. It was all destroyed.

Wa idhā baṭashtum baṭashtum jabbārīn: and when you seize, you seize like tyrants. They were powerful. Even though this nation was wealthy — some nations, when they become wealthy, they become weak — the people of ʿĀd were keeping their strength. Even though they were very wealthy and luxurious, they were still very powerful; and then, when they would attack any neighbours, they would completely destroy them. Tyrants. Baṭsh. Wa idhā baṭashtum baṭashtum jabbārīn. So there's a difference between the people of ʿĀd and Thamūd: ʿĀd were powerful tyrants.

All of these things combined — when you put them together — Allah (swt) says:

ʿĀdin Irama dhāti al-ʿimād, allatī lam yukhlaq mithluhā fī al-bilād. Allah (swt) says: ʿĀd, Iram dhāt al-ʿimād, the land of pillars, which Allah (swt) has created no land similar to. This society, and these people — Allah (swt) did not create anyone similar to them. When you put all these together — all these things together, all of these different resources that Allah (swt) has given them, all of these blessings together — they were able to build a civilisation, a nation and a society that was unsurpassed by anyone in their time: the like of which were not created in the land. No one was like them.