“Whatever you have been given is but the enjoyment and adornment of worldly life; but what is with Allah is better and more lasting. Will you not then understand? (60) Is one to whom We have promised a good promise, which he will surely receive, like one whom We have granted the enjoyment of worldly life, then who, on the Day of Resurrection, will be among those brought forth [for punishment]? (61)”

His saying, exalted is He: “How many a town We destroyed”—that is, how many inhabitants of a town—“that had become arrogant in its prosperity” (1): that is, in its livelihood; in other words, it became insolent and tyrannical. ‘Ata’ said: “They lived in extravagance, consuming Allah’s provision and worshipping idols.” “Those are their dwellings, scarcely inhabited after them.” Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “They were inhabited only by travellers and passers-by, for a day or an hour.” Its meaning is that they were inhabited after them only to a very limited extent. It was also said that the meaning is: only a very small part of them was inhabited, while most of them remained in ruins. “And We alone were the Inheritors”: “Indeed, it is We Who will inherit the earth and whoever is upon it.” (Maryam 40)

“And your Lord would never destroy towns”—that is, towns whose inhabitants are disbelievers—“until He had sent to their central city a messenger”: that is, a messenger to their largest and most important city, to warn them. The greatest city was singled out for the sending of the messenger because messengers are sent to the leading people, and the leading people reside in the cities and places that serve as the centre for the surrounding areas. “Reciting to them Our verses.” Muqatil said: “The messenger informs them that punishment will descend upon them if they do not believe.” “Nor would We destroy towns except when their people were wrongdoers”—that is, polytheists; meaning, We destroyed them because of their wrongdoing.

“Whatever you have been given is but the enjoyment and adornment of worldly life”: you enjoy it during the days of your lives, then it is bound to perish and come to an end. “But what is with Allah is better and more lasting. Will you not then understand?”—that what endures is better than what perishes. The majority of Quran reciters read it in the second-person plural, while Abu ‘Amr allowed either the second- or third-person plural reading.

“Is one to whom We have promised a good promise”—that is, Paradise—“which he will surely receive”: he will attain it, reach it, and come to it, “like one whom We have granted the enjoyment of worldly life,” which will soon vanish, “then who, on the Day of Resurrection, will be among those brought forth”—to the Fire? He said: