وَلَوْ أَنَّ أَهْلَ ٱلْقُرَىٰٓ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَٱتَّقَوْا۟ لَفَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَرَكَـٰتٍ مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَـٰكِن كَذَّبُوا۟ فَأَخَذْنَـٰهُم بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَكْسِبُونَ Qur’an Al-A'raf (7:96)Walaw anna ahla alqur a a manoo wa i ttaqaw lafata h n a AAalayhim barak a tin mina a l ssam a i wa a lar d i wal a kin ka thth aboo faakha th n a hum bim a k a noo yaksiboon a
Thus the discourse returns to its starting-point at the beginning of this surah (verses {4-5}): namely, that the destruction which is bound to overtake any community (the proper significance of the term qaryah in this context) which lives in opposition to the eternal moral verities amounts, in the last resort, to self-annihilation: for this is the real meaning of God's "taking them to task through what (bi-ma) they themselves were doing".