And when he stated that this is general for every criminal, he followed it with his saying: ﴿Then We made you﴾ meaning: O you who have been sent to them, the most noble of Our messengers ﴿successors in the earth﴾ meaning: not specifically in what they were in. And since our time has not encompassed what came after the time of those who were destroyed, he included the preposition and said: ﴿after them﴾ meaning the destroyed generations, the destruction of total annihilation ﴿so that We may see﴾ and we - with what we have of greatness - know more about you than you know about yourselves. And this is only so that We may see it in the realm of witnessing to establish the proof ﴿how you act﴾ so our observation is connected to your actions, existing as a warning to those addressed, lest they commit crimes and what befell those before them befall them.