And when He, glorified and exalted is He, indicated the corruption of their criticism by making it scattered dust, and their saying which they caused about the decision regarding the human messengers and their signs, He followed it with a clarification of what is upon them in it. He first clarified that the signs can be a cause for destruction, so He said in response to one who seemed to say: 'My Lord, respond to them regarding what they have proposed so that they may believe': "None believed." That is, in response to the proposed signs.

And when the intended meaning was the duration of time, He stripped the circumstance of the preposition and said: "Before them," that is, before the disbelievers of Mecca who proposed to you. He deepened the negation and said: "From a village." And when the intended meaning was to emphasize the severity of destruction, and the destruction of the village indicates the destruction of its people without exception, it indicated the destruction of all the proposers as a warning against their condition by describing it with His words in the manifestation of greatness [the necessity of] destroying the obstinate: "We destroyed it," that is, despite their multitude. "And how many generations We have destroyed after Noah" [Al-Isra: 17]. "And We did not destroy any village except that it had warners" [Ash-Shu'ara: 208]. "And We would not punish until We had sent a messenger" [Al-Isra: 15]. "And there is not a prophet except that he was given signs by which mankind believed like him." And He indicated by this that no village was saved in the face of adversity except one, which is the people of Yunus, because they believed upon seeing the signs, and it was said that they began to be destroyed. [This indicates that the cause of faith is His will, glorified is He, not the signs.]

And when they were like those before them, if not less than them, the denial was appropriate in His saying: "Do they believe?" That is, no! Rather, they do not believe even if every sign came to them until they see the painful punishment when faith will not benefit them. And We decreed in eternity that We would not eradicate this nation out of honor for its prophet, so We do not respond to their proposals for that reason.