Quran Universe
15:79

فَٱنتَقَمۡنَا مِنۡهُمۡ وَإِنَّهُمَا لَبِإِمَامٖ مُّبِينٖ

Faintaqamna minhum wainnahuma labiimamin mubeenin

So We took retribution from them, and indeed, both [cities] are on a clear highway.

Word by word
  1. فَٱنتَقَمۡنَاSo We took retribution
  2. مِنۡهُمۡfrom them
  3. وَإِنَّهُمَاand indeed,they both
  4. لَبِإِمَامٖ(were) on a highway
  5. مُّبِينٖclear
Al-Hijr · 15:79Makkah

Two ruined towns, both on a road you can see.

Lut and Shuayb, side by side

On the route
Lut's townsturned over
Al-Aykahtaken in retribution
both on
a clear highwaya visible route
Learning from neighbors
that was themnot my story
not far from youShuayb's warning

Ibn Kathir says Shuayb's people knew about Lut's people, which is why both are on an open route, plain to see. Shuayb warned them in 11:89, the people of Lut are not far off from you. They had a lesson next door and ignored it.

Your neighbor lost his family to the same temper you have. Your colleague got fired for the same shortcuts you take. It is easy to think it was just them. The lesson is not far off from you.

What happened to them will not happen to me.

When I see someone fall nearby for a habit I share, it is a warning addressed to me.

Try this

Think of one person who fell for something you also struggle with, and change one thing today.

Related11:89
Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 15:78)

And the Dwellers of Al-Aykah, were also wrongdoers (78)So, We took vengeance on them. They are both on an open route, plain to see (79)

The Destruction of the Dwellers of Al-Aykah, the People of Shu'ayb

The Dwellers of Al-Aykah, were the people of Shu'ayb. Ad-Dahhak, Qatadah and others said that Al-Aykah refers to intertwined trees. Their evildoing included associating partners with Allah (Shirk), banditry and cheating in weights and measures. Allah punished them with the Sayhah (the awful cry or torment), the earthquake, and the torment of the Day of Shadow. They lived near the people of Lut, but at a later time, and the people of Lut were known to them, which is why Allah says,

وَإِنَّهُمَا لَبِإِمَامٍ مُّبِينٍ

(They are both on an open route, plain to see.) Ibn 'Abbas, Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak and others said, "a visible route." This is why, when Shu'ayb warned his people, he said to them,

وَمَا قَوْمُ لُوطٍ مِّنكُم بِبَعِيدٍ

(And the people of Lut are not far off from you!)[11:89]