5. People can learn a lesson from the tragic fate of those nations that spurned
God's Guidance. and instead followed the guidance of others; and they became
so degenerate that their very existence became an intolerable burden on the
earth. Eventually, God's scourge seized them. and the earth was cleansed of
their filthy existence.
The words uttered by, the evil-doers: 'We are indeed transgressors', emphasizes
two points, First, that it is pointless for one to realize and repent of one's
wrong-doing after the time for such repentance is past. Individuals and communities
who allow the term granted to them to be wasted in heedlesness and frivolity,
who turn a deaf car to those who invite them to the truth, have so often been
overtaken in the past by God's punishmet. Second, there are numerous instances
of individuals as well as communities which incontrovertibly prove that when
the wrong-doings of a nation exceed a certain limit, the term granted to it
expires and God's punishment suddenly overtakes it. And once a nation is subjected
to God's punishment, there is no escape from it. Since human history abounds
in such instances, there is no reason why people should persist in the same
iniquity, and repent only when the time for repentance has passed.