[Pooya/Ali Commentary 25:38] For the people of Ad see commentary of Araf : 65 to 72; Hud : 50 to 60; Ibrahim : 9. For the people of Thamud see commentary of Araf : 73 to 79; Hud : 61 to 68; Ibrahim : 9; Hijr : 80 to 84. Aqa Mahdi Puya says: Commentators have given various accounts of the companions of al Rass. The root meaning of rass is an old well or shallow water-pit. They were people who disobeyed their prophet and were destroyed. Imam Ali bin Musa ar Ridha reported on the authority of Imam Husayn bin Ali that a man from Banu Tamim came to Ali and asked him as to who were the people of al Rass. Imam Ali said: "You have asked a question no one has yet investigated; and there is no one except me who can give you the answer because there is no verse in the Quran but I know when, where and why it was revealed. The treasures of knowledge Allah has given me are inexhaustible, but there are very few who want to know. The seekers of truth and wisdom shall miss me when they will not find me among them to know that which is unknown to any scholar. The people of al Rass worshipped the pine tree which Yafas, son of Nuh, planted beside a spring called Dushab, particularly created by Allah for Nuh, after the great flood. After Sulayman, son of Dawud, there were twelve towns, between Adharbayjan and Arminia on the river known as Rass, in which these people lived. The names of the twelve towns were (i) Aban (ii) Adhur (iii) Day (iv) Bahman (v) Isfandar (vi) Farwardin (vii) Ardi Bahist (vii) Khurdad (ix) Mardad (x) Tir (xi) Mihr (xii) Shahryur. Isfandar was the largest town in which was the pine tree the people worshipped. Tarkuz son of Ghayur son of Yarishk son of Sazan son of Nimrud son of Kanan was their king. It was strictly prohibited to use the water of the spring for any purpose because if it dried, they presumed, their god would die. An Israelite prophet, a descendant of prophet Yaqub, was sent to show the right path of Allah to them, but they did not give up the worship of the pine tree. At last Allah made the tree dead. The people, in a fury of revenge, buried the prophet alive in a well. Then the wrath of Allah seized them. All perished. No one survived." (Manhaj al Sadiqin and Umdah al Bayan)