Al Ḥijr

فَجَعَلْنَا عَالِيَهَا سَافِلَهَا وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ حِجَارَةً مِن سِجّـِيلٍ

74. “Thus We turned that city upside down and rained upon them stones of hard clay.”

Raining stones was probably for the extermination of those who had survived at the moment of the turning upside down of the town and were still alive, or for the total annihilation of the town. Certainly, Allah’s Will knows no limits for as He descends His blessings from the sky in the form of rain, He is also able to rain stones, and chastisement as well. However, Allah did not stop at that, but He turned their cities entirely upside down, overthrowing all its upper part downwards and the lower part upwards.

The verse says:

“Thus We turned that city upside down…”

Such a chastisement was not enough for them either. The verse continues saying:

“…and rained upon them stones of hard clay.”

The descending of the three-fold kind of punishments (terrible blast, turning everything upside down, and raining stones) each was sufficient by itself to wipe out every nation. However, for the intensity of the sin and in their submission to sinfulness and ill fame, and that others may take an example, Allah multiplied their punishment.