Overview (Verses 116 - 117)

What Saves Erring Communities

As the sūrah draws to its end, it finishes its comment on the destruction of earlier communities which turned their backs on God’s messengers. It says rather indirectly that had there been among them groups of good people who tried to earn for themselves a good position with God by speaking out loud against corruption and injustice, God would not have exterminated them as He did. God does not punish any community for its injustice if its people are righteous; that is, if the righteous among its people have enough power to resist injustice and corruption. There were in each of those lands only a handful of believers who had no influence on their community and wielded no power. God saved those believers, and destroyed the rest, including both the powerful, wealthy masters and their weak and poor followers who accepted their commands without question.

If only there had been among the generations that have gone before you some people of virtue to speak out against the spread of corruption on earth, as did the few whom We saved from among them! The wrongdoers pursued what ensured for them a life of comfort and plenty; they were hardened in sin. In truth, your Lord would have not destroyed those cities, without just cause, had their people been righteous. (Verses 116-117)

This explains the divine law which applies to all nations and communities. If corruption, that is, any form of subjugating people to any authority other than that of God, spreads in any community, that community will not be destroyed by God, provided that a section of its people rises to stop such corruption. On the other hand, if injustice and corruption go unchecked, or if those who speak out against them have little influence on the continued spread of these evils, then the divine law operates against these communities and they are either destroyed immediately or by gradual weakening and imbalance.

Hence, those who call on their communities to submit to God alone, and work against all other forms of submission to other authorities provide a safety net for their nations and communities. In this light, we can appreciate the value of the struggle by the advocates of Islam who resist all forms of evil, injustice and corruption and who try to establish this religion, which is based on submission to God alone. By their struggle, they not only discharge their own responsibility towards God and towards their various nations, but they also ensure that their nations are spared God’s immediate punishment which brings about their total destruction.