The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 201
PT. 12 HŪD CH. 11 وَمَا كَانَ رَبُّكَ لِيُهْلِكَ الْقُرى بِظُلْمٍ And thy Lord is not the. 118 One Who would destroy the cities unjustly while the people thereof were righteous. 1498 "6:132; 20:135; 26:209; 28:60. (they were afforded ease and comfort) is derived from which means, he enjoyed or led a plentiful and a pleasant or an easy and delicate life; or a life of ease and plenty. They say i. e. wealth made him behave exorbitantly; or to be excessively disobedient or rebellious; or to exalt himself; be inordinate in infidelity; or to be extravagant in acts of disobedience and in wrongdoing. means, the man persisted in, resolved upon, transgression, wrongdoing and deviation from the right way (Lane & Aqrab). Commentary: This verse makes a fleeting reference to a serious but general mistake. It purports to say that, when experience had shown that man has a tendency to become corrupt, why did not the wise men among past generations recognize this responsibility about their own people and at the outset warn them of the evil consequences of their bad deeds and thus nip the evil in the bud. But instead of doing this they allowed the evil to grow, with the result that their people became totally corrupt and depraved. These people, instead of learning a lesson from the fate of their predecessors, lost themselves in pursuit of the paltry things of the world and the result was that they 1409 وَأَهْلُهَا مُصْلِحُونَ ranged themselves with wrongdoers and became estranged from God. 1498. Commentary: The verse clearly shows that it is unjust to punish any people unless they make themselves deserving of it by their misdeeds. It is a pity that in spite of the fact that various kinds of afflictions and miseries have fallen upon present-day Muslims, they persist in thinking that they are following the right path. This, in other words, means that they look upon God as unjust and themselves as righteous. The important lesson that we learn from this verse is that as punishment comes only when people become corrupt, therefore when people see signs of an impending punishment they should take a warning from it and should at once set about eschewing evil practices and reforming themselves. As the word (righteous) also means "making peace among themselves", the verse also shows that the way to avert Divine punishment is that people should make peace among themselves and there should be unity and concord among them. In fact, decline and degradation overtake a people only when they are rent by dissensions and discord and fall victim to various kinds of moral and spiritual maladies.