وَكَمۡ قَصَمۡنَا مِن قَرۡيَةٖ كَانَتۡ ظَالِمَةٗ وَأَنشَأۡنَا بَعۡدَهَا قَوۡمًا ءَاخَرِينَ
How many a town (community), that were wrong-doers, have We destroyed, and raised up after them another people!
فَلَمَّآ أَحَسُّواْ بَأۡسَنَآ إِذَا هُم مِّنۡهَا يَرۡكُضُونَ
Then, when they perceived (saw) Our Torment (coming), behold, they (tried to) flee from it.
لَا تَرۡكُضُواْ وَٱرۡجِعُوٓاْ إِلَىٰ مَآ أُتۡرِفۡتُمۡ فِيهِ وَمَسَٰكِنِكُمۡ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تُسۡـَٔلُونَ
Flee not, but return to that wherein you lived a luxurious life, and to your homes, in order that you may be questioned.
قَالُواْ يَٰوَيۡلَنَآ إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَٰلِمِينَ
They cried: "Woe to us! Certainly! We have been Zalimun (polytheists, wrong-doers and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah, etc.)."
فَمَا زَالَت تِّلۡكَ دَعۡوَىٰهُمۡ حَتَّىٰ جَعَلۡنَٰهُمۡ حَصِيدًا خَٰمِدِينَ
And that cry of theirs ceased not, till We made them as a field that is reaped, extinct (dead).
وَمَا خَلَقۡنَا ٱلسَّمَآءَ وَٱلۡأَرۡضَ وَمَا بَيۡنَهُمَا لَٰعِبِينَ
We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them for a (mere) play.