Here Allah tells us that He has decreed and it is written in Al-Lawh
Al-Mahfuz (The Preserved Tablet) which is with Him, that there is no town that
He will not destroy by wiping out all its people or by punishing them,
[عَذَاباً
شَدِيداً]
(with a severe torment.) either by killing them or sending calamities upon
them as He wills. This will be because of their sins, as Allah says of the past
nations:
[وَمَا ظَلَمْنَـهُمْ
وَلَـكِن ظَلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ]
(We wronged them not, but they wronged themselves.) [11:101]
[فَذَاقَتْ وَبَالَ
أَمْرِهَا وَكَانَ عَـقِبَةُ أَمْرِهَا خُسْراً ]
(So it tasted the evil result of its affair (disbelief), and the consequence
of its affair (disbelief) was loss.) [65:9]
[وَكَأِيِّن مِّن
قَرْيَةٍ عَتَتْ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهَا وَرُسُلِهِ]
(And many a town (population) revolted against the command of its Lord and
His Messengers;) [65:8] and many Ayat.
[وَمَا مَنَعَنَآ أَن
نُّرْسِلَ بِالاٌّيَـتِ إِلاَّ أَن كَذَّبَ بِهَا الاٌّوَّلُونَ وَءَاتَيْنَا
ثَمُودَ النَّاقَةَ مُبْصِرَةً فَظَلَمُواْ بِهَا وَمَا نُرْسِلُ بِالاٌّيَـتِ
إِلاَّ تَخْوِيفًا ]
(59. And nothing stops Us from sending the Ayat but that the people of old
denied them. And We sent the she-camel to Thamud as a clear sign, but they did
her wrong. And We sent not the signs except to make them afraid (of
destruction).)