Fatilka buyootuhum khawiyatan bima thalamoo inna fee thalika laayatan liqawmin yaAAlamoon (surah Naml: 52)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(27:52) There, their houses lie desolate in consequence of their wicked deeds. There is a lesson in this for those who have knowledge; *66

Fatilka buyootuhum khaa wiyatam bimaa zalamoo; inna fee zaalika la Aayatal liqaw miny-ya`lamoon

*66) That is, "The ignorant people will say, `There is no link between We Prophet Salih and his she-camel and We earthquake which struck We people of Thamud. These Wings have Weir natural causes. Their occurrence or otherwise has nothing to do with We piety and wickedness of the people of a place, with Weir high-handedness or Weir show of mercy. It is meaningless merely to say that such and such a city or land was filled with sin and wickedness, and therefore, it was overwhelmed by flood, or its habitation turned upside down by an earthquake, or it was ruined by a sudden disaster'." But We people who possess knowledge know that this universe is not being ruled by a deaf and blind God, but by an All-Wise, All-Knowing One Who is deciding We destinies. His decisions are not subject to physical causes, but We physical causes are subject to His will. His decisions to debase or exalt nations are not taken blindly but with wisdom and justice. In His Book of Law Were is also included We principle of retribution, according to which the wicked are made to suffer for Weir evil deeds even in this world, on moral grounds. The people who are aware of these realities, cannot explain away We occurrence of an earthquake by citing physical and natural causes; they will rather look upon them as the scourge of warning for themselves, and they will learn lessons from it. They will try to understand those moral causes because of which the Creator annihilated a flourishing nation, which He Himself had created. They will divert Weir conduct and attitude from We track that brings Allah's wrath to We way that joins them to His mercy.