وَثَمودُ وَقَومُ لوطٍ وَأَصحابُ الأَيكَةِ ۚ أُولٰئِكَ الأَحزابُ

And Thamūd, and the people of Lot, and the inhabitants of Aykah: those were the factions.

EXEGESIS

Aykah means thicket (ghayḍah).^{‎[1]Tibyan, 8/548; Tabari, 23/83.} They were the people of Prophet Shuʿayb (a).^{‎[2]Tabrisi, 8/729.} They were called that because they lived in a land abundant with trees and water, located somewhere between Ḥijāz (Arabian Peninsula) and Shām (Greater Syria).^{‎[3]Nemuneh, 11/120.} See the commentary on 15:78 for more.

EXPOSITION

The verse continues with another three factions who were routed by God. Thamūd were the people of Prophet Ṣāliḥ (a) and they were destroyed by the cry (69:5); the people of Prophet Lot (a) were destroyed when God rained on it stones of laminar shale (11:82). The people of Prophet Shuʿayb were also destroyed.^{‎[4]Razi, 26/371. Apparently, they were inflicted with a long-lasting heat wave, then finally a cloud formation showed up. They sought refuge in its shade, only to be caught in a massive lightning storm that wiped them all out (see Nemuneh, 11/121).}

The verse ends in the declaration, those were the factions. This is an explanation meant to clarify the factions referred to in verse 11, that it was they who gathered against their prophets, so see what their end was.

[1] Tibyan, 8/548; Tabari, 23/83.
[2] Tabrisi, 8/729.
[3] Nemuneh, 11/120.
[4] Razi, 26/371. Apparently, they were inflicted with a long-lasting heat wave, then finally a cloud formation showed up. They sought refuge in its shade, only to be caught in a massive lightning storm that wiped them all out (see Nemuneh, 11/121).