And when the focus of their gaze was on this world, and this was clear in the delay given to the wrongdoers and the kindness shown to the criminals, He followed it with His saying, glorified and exalted is He, threatening them and deterring them from their pursuit of adornment, confirming that they deny that their destruction is due to their wrongdoing: ﴿And certainly We destroyed﴾ meaning, by what We have of greatness, ﴿the nations﴾ meaning, despite what they had of strength and power; and when those who were destroyed faced the destruction of the all-encompassing punishment, some of those who came before, He established the connection and said: ﴿before you when they wronged﴾ meaning, their wrongdoing was complete, leading to the destruction of both their last and first, as if they were one soul, to dispel the illusion that He, glorified and exalted is He, does not encompass with destruction. And He, glorified and exalted is He, said, in continuation of ﴿We destroyed﴾ ﴿and their messengers came to them﴾ meaning, to every nation was its messenger ﴿with clear signs﴾ meaning, that which was made clear by its like, the message, "and that" meaning, while they were "not" meaning, by their nature, and He confirmed the negation with those who deny that their belief would be delayed from the clear signs, saying: ﴿that they might believe﴾ even if every sign came to them, as a warning for those who might seek that He, glorified and exalted is He, shows them the signs of punishment or what they proposed from the signs to believe. So He clarified, glorified and exalted is He, that this would not be a reason for the belief of one who has decreed disbelief, rather his state in denial is the same before the coming of the signs and after them, to be a reason for his destruction. It is as if it were said: Does this apply specifically to the past nations? It was said: Rather, ﴿Thus﴾ meaning, like this great recompense ﴿We recompense the people﴾ meaning, those who have the strength to attempt what they desire ﴿the criminals﴾ because the reason is the deep-rootedness in crime; it is cutting off what should be connected. Wherever it is found, its recompense is there; and destruction is the infliction of that from which there is no escape from punishment; and the generation refers to the people of the era for the comparison of some of them to others.