“For all are ranks according to what they have done, and your Lord is not unaware of what they do. Your Lord is the Self-Sufficient, the Possessor of mercy. If He wills, He can do away with you and replace you, after you, with whomever He wills, just as He brought you forth from the descendants of another people. Indeed, what you are promised will surely come, and you cannot escape it.” (132–134)

“That is because your Lord would not destroy towns for wrongdoing,” meaning: this account We have related to you concerning the messengers and the punishment of those who denied them is because your Lord would not destroy towns for wrongdoing—meaning, He would not destroy them unjustly (1)—that is, on account of the idolatry of those who committed it—“while their people were unaware”: that is, they had not been warned before He sent messengers to them to warn them.

Al-Kalbi said: “He would not destroy them for their sins before the messengers had come to them.”

It was also said that its meaning is: He would not destroy them without first alerting and reminding them through the messengers, for then He would have wronged them. This is because Allah