The Children of Israel
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[17:16]
But when [this has been done, and] it is Our will to destroy a community, We convey Our last warning to those of its people who have lost themselves entirely in the pursuit of pleasures; and [if] they [continue to] act sinfully, the sentence [of doom] passed on the community takes effect, and We break it to smithereens.

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* v.16 : Lit., “Our command,” i.e., to mend their ways. The term qaryah (lit., “town”) denotes usually – though not always – a “community” or “people of a community.”
* I.e., to the exclusion of all moral considerations. (For the above rendering of the expression mutraf, see sūrah 11, note 147.) The people referred to here are those who, by virtue of their wealth and social position, embody the real leadership of their community and are, therefore, morally responsible for the behaviours of their followers.