﴿ أَفَلَمْ يَهْدِ لَهُمْ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّنَ ٱلْقُرُونِ يَمْشُونَ فِى مَسَٰكِنِهِمْ ۗ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَءَايَٰتٍۢ لِّأُو۟لِى ٱلنُّهَىٰ ﴾

“CAN, THEN, they [who reject the truth] learn no lesson by recalling how many a generation We have destroyed before their time? - [people] in whose dwelling-places they [themselves now] walk about? In this, behold, there are messages indeed for those who are endowed with reason!”

If a community reaches the zenith of its progress in the world and then is made to face destruction or subjection, it is always because it has transgressed its limits. Every community so destroyed leaves a lesson for its successors. But there are very few people who care to learn a lesson from such events. It is worth noting that the advice given here about the repeated glorification and remembrance of God and prayer was first given in Makkah; these practices were meant to be observed in the most trying and serious conditions of the Makkan period. This indicates that in the most difficult days of denial and tough opposition, prayers (salat) and remembrance of God are the best shields for the faithful. The principal benefit to man of these actions is that they lead to a smoothing of the paths to success in this world and the next.