And surely We have destroyed from the countries around you, and We had explained Our verses so that they may be returning.
Since Maccah is the centre of the world and the verse is revealed in Maccah, it is mentioned about the countries which were destroyed before as ‘We have destroyed from the countries around you’. The previous people were destroyed when they became the Mujirims, wrongdoers and transgressors by forgetting Adhikr as explained in verses 6: 47; 7: 84; 46: 25, and 35. The Fujjar-the Mujirims-have read in the verse 83: 29 that they will ridicule the believer who testifies Adhikr in this world. They have also read the verses 25: 33-34 which say that those who do not testify Adhikr-the Best Interpretation of Lord’s Book, they will be dragged in to the hell prone on their faces, such are in the worst place, and they are the most strayed; and the verses 5: 44, 45, and 47 which say that whoever doesn’t judge with Adhikr in individual, family and social life, such are the disbelievers, wrongdoers, and transgressors. See explanation 2: 18, 170; 30: 41; and 32: 21-22.