Al-A'raf 7:5

<h2>Nations that were destroyed</h2><p>Allah said, </p><div class="arabic uthmani">وَكَم مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَـهَا</div><p>(And a great number of towns We destroyed.) for defying Our Messengers and rejecting them. This behavior led them to earn disgrace in this life, which led them to disgrace in the Hereafter. Allah said in other Ayat, </p><div class="arabic uthmani">وَلَقَدِ اسْتُهْزِىءَ بِرُسُلٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ فَحَاقَ بِالَّذِينَ سَخِرُواْ مِنْهُمْ مَّا كَانُواْ بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ </div><p>(And indeed (many) Messengers before you were mocked at, but their scoffers were surrounded by the very thing that they used to mock at) 6:10, and </p><div class="arabic uthmani">فَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَـهَا وَهِىَ ظَالِمَةٌ فَهِىَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِهَا وَبِئْرٍ مُّعَطَّلَةٍ وَقَصْرٍ مَّشِيدٍ </div><p>(And many a township did We destroy while they were given to wrongdoing, so that it lie in ruins (up to this day), and (many) a deserted well and lofty castle!) 22:45, and, </p><div class="arabic uthmani">وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَرْيَةٍ بَطِرَتْ مَعِيشَتَهَا فَتِلْكَ مَسَـكِنُهُمْ لَمْ تُسْكَن مِّن بَعْدِهِمْ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً وَكُنَّا نَحْنُ الْوَرِثِينَ </div><p>(And how many a town have We destroyed, which was thankless for its means of livelihood And those are their dwellings, which have not been inhabited after them except a little. And verily, We have been the heirs)28:58. Allah's saying, </p><div class="arabic uthmani">فَجَآءَهَا …

No plea had they, when Our terror came unto them, save that they said: Lo! We were wrong-doers.

When (thus) Our punishment took them, no cry did they utter but this: "Indeed we did wrong."

No cry did they utter when Our Torment came upon them but this: "Verily, we were Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc.)".

When Our might came upon them, their only cry was, “We were indeed wrongdoers.”