Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 9 At-Tawbah, Ayat 70-70

اَلَمۡ يَاۡتِهِمۡ نَبَاُ الَّذِيۡنَ مِنۡ قَبۡلِهِمۡ قَوۡمِ نُوۡحٍ وَّعَادٍ وَّثَمُوۡدَ  ۙ وَقَوۡمِ اِبۡرٰهِيۡمَ وَاَصۡحٰبِ مَدۡيَنَ وَالۡمُؤۡتَفِكٰتِ​ ؕ اَتَتۡهُمۡ رُسُلُهُمۡ بِالۡبَيِّنٰتِ​​ ۚ فَمَا كَانَ اللّٰهُ لِيَظۡلِمَهُمۡ وَلٰـكِنۡ كَانُوۡۤا اَنۡفُسَهُمۡ يَظۡلِمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿9:70﴾

[9:70] Have they not heard the accounts of those who came before them77 - of the people of Noah and 'Ad and Thamud, and the people of Abraham and the dwellers of Madyan (Midian), and the cities that were overturned?78 Their Messengers came to them with Clear Signs. Then, it was not Allah Who caused them any wrong; they rather wronged themselves.79

Notes

77. Again they are being mentioned in the third person.

78. These were the people of Lot.

79. “They used to wrong themselves” for they were themselves responsible for their destruction. Allah had no enmity with them and had no desire to destroy them. As a matter of fact, they themselves adopted the way of life that led to destruction, whereas Allah had sent His Messengers to them and afforded them the opportunities of thinking, understanding, and reforming. His Messengers admonished and warned them of the consequences of treading wrong paths, and presented very clearly before them the way that leads to success, and also the ways that lead to destruction. But when they did not benefit from the opportunities that were offered to them to mend their ways, and persisted in treading the ways that led to destruction, they inevitably met with the end for which they were heading. And this horrible end was not due to Allah’s will to be unjust to them but due to their own evil doings."