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Surah 17. Al-Israa, Ayah 16

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وَإِذَآ أَرَدْنَآ أَن نُّهْلِكَ قَرْيَةً أَمَرْنَا مُتْرَفِيهَا فَفَسَقُوا۟ فِيهَا فَحَقَّ عَلَيْهَا ٱلْقَوْلُ فَدَمَّرْنَـٰهَا تَدْمِيرًا
Wai tha aradn a an nuhlika qaryatan amarn a mutrafeeh a fafasaqoo feeh a fa h aqqa AAalayh a alqawlu fadammarn a h a tadmeer a n
But when [this has been done, and] it is Our will to destroy a community, We convey Our last warning21 to those of its people who have lost themselves entirely in the pursuit of pleasures;22 and [if] they [continue to] act sinfully, the sentence [of doom] passed on the community takes effect, and We break it to smithereens.
  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., to the exclusion of all moral considerations. (For the above rendering of the expression mutraf, see surah {11}, note [147].) The people referred to here are those who, by virtue of their wealth and social position, embody the real leadership of their community and are, therefore, morally responsible for the behaviours of their followers.

Lit., "Our command", i.e., to mend their ways. The term qaryah (lit., "town") denotes usually - though not always - a "community" or "people of a community".

Whenever We have intended to destroy a town, it was because We sent Our commandments to its people who were leading easy lives but they showed disobedience; as a result Our judgement was passed, and We razed that city to the ground.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Whenever We intend to destroy a society, We command its elite 'to obey Allah' but they act rebelliously in it. So the decree 'of punishment' is justified, and We destroy it utterly.
  - Mustafa Khattab
And when We would destroy a township We send commandment to its folk who live at ease, and afterward they commit abomination therein, and so the Word (of doom) hath effect for it, and We annihilate it with complete annihilation.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
When We decide to destroy a population We (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then (it is) We destroy them utterly. 2192 2193
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Allah's Mercy gives every chance to the wicked to repent. When wickedness gets so rampant that punishment becomes inevitable, even then Allah's Mercy and Justice act together. Those who are highly gifted from Allah-it may be with wealth or position, or it may be with talents and opportunities-are expected to understand and obey. They are given a definite order and warning. If they still transgress there is no further room for argument. They cannot plead that they were ignorant. The command of the Lord is proved against them, and its application is called for beyond doubt. Then it is that their punishment is completed.

Qaul here has the sense of word, order, law, charge framed against one under a definite law.

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