Quran Universe
17:58

وَإِن مِّن قَرۡيَةٍ إِلَّا نَحۡنُ مُهۡلِكُوهَا قَبۡلَ يَوۡمِ ٱلۡقِيَٰمَةِ أَوۡ مُعَذِّبُوهَا عَذَابٗا شَدِيدٗاۚ كَانَ ذَٰلِكَ فِي ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ مَسۡطُورٗا

Wain min qaryatin illa nahnu muhlikooha qabla yawmi alqiyamati aw muAAaththibooha AAathaban shadeedan kana thalika fee alkitabi mastooran

And there is no city but that We will destroy it before the Day of Resurrection or punish it with a severe punishment. That has ever been in the Register inscribed.

Word by word
  1. وَإِنAnd not
  2. مِّن(is) any
  3. قَرۡيَةٍtown
  4. إِلَّاbut
  5. نَحۡنُWe
  6. مُهۡلِكُوهَا(will) destroy it
  7. قَبۡلَbefore
  8. يَوۡمِ(the) Day
  9. ٱلۡقِيَٰمَةِ(of) the Resurrection
  10. أَوۡor
  11. مُعَذِّبُوهَاpunish it
  12. عَذَابٗاwith a punishment
  13. شَدِيدٗاۚsevere
  14. كَانَThat is
  15. ذَٰلِكَThat is
  16. فِيin
  17. ٱلۡكِتَٰبِthe Book
  18. مَسۡطُورٗاwritten
Al-Isra · 17:58Makkah

Every wrongdoing town's end is already written.

Nothing is outside His record

Before the Hour
a townrevolting against its Lord
faces
ruin or hardshipbecause of its sins
the Bookalready written
Who wronged whom
they were treated unfairly
they wronged themselves

Ibn Kathir explains that it is written in the Preserved Tablet that towns will meet ruin or hardship before the Day of Resurrection because of their sins. He cites the verse about past nations: We did not wrong them, they wronged themselves.

Nothing in this world is permanent, not your city, not your company, not your street. What lasts is what you did in it. When you see a place decline, ask what you are building in your own corner.

The places and systems around me will always be there.

Every place has a written end, so I should invest in what lasts.

Try this

Do one good deed today for your neighborhood, something small that helps someone nearby.

Related11:10165:8
Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

And there is not a town (population) but We shall destroy it before the Day of Resurrection, or punish it with a severe torment. That is written in the Book (of Our decrees (58)

The Destruction or Torment of all Disbelieving Towns before the Hour begins

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,

عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا

(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 ظَلَمْنَاهُمْ وَلَٰكِن ظَلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ

(We wronged them not, but they wronged themselves.)[11:101]

فَذَاقَتْ وَبَالَ أَمْرِهَا وَكَانَ عَاقِبَةُ أَمْرِهَا خُسْرًا

(So it tasted the evil result of its affair (disbelief), and the consequence of its affair (disbelief) was loss.)[65:9]

وَكَأَيِّن 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.