(16–18) “Do you feel secure that He who is above heaven will not cause the earth to swallow you, whereupon it would begin to quake? * Or do you feel secure that He who is above heaven will not send against you a stone-laden storm? Then you will know what My warning means. * Those before them also denied, so how terrible was My condemnation!”

This is a threat and warning to anyone who persists in tyranny, transgression, and disobedience warranting exemplary chastisement and the descent of punishment. He said: “Do you feel secure that He who is above heaven”—namely, Allah Most High, who is exalted above His creation—

“will not cause the earth to swallow you, whereupon it would begin to quake?” It would heave and convulse with you until it destroys and annihilates you (1).

“Or do you feel secure that He who is above heaven will not send against you a stone-laden storm?” That is, a punishment from heaven that pelts you, whereby Allah takes vengeance upon you. “Then you will know what My warning means.” That is, you will know how that of which the messengers and revealed Books warned you will come upon you. So do not imagine that your sense of security against Allah punishing you with a punishment from the earth or heaven will benefit you. You will encounter the outcome of your affair, whether the time (2) is long or short. Those before you denied just as you have denied, so Allah Most High destroyed them. Consider how Allah condemned them: He hastened worldly punishment upon them before the punishment of the Hereafter. Beware lest what befell them befall you.