And surely, We have destroyed from the countries around you, and We explained Our verses so that they may return.
Since Mecca is the center of the world, and the verse was revealed in Mecca, the destroyed nations around it are mentioned. The previous people were destroyed when they became 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 verse 83:29 that they ridicule the believer who testifies Adhikr in this world. They have also read verses 25:33-34, which say that those who do not testify to Adhikr — the Best Interpretation of the Lord’s Book — will be dragged into Hell prone on their faces; such are in the worst place and are the most strayed. And they have read verses 5:44, 45, and 47, which say that whoever does not judge with Adhikr in individual, family, and social life is a disbeliever, wrongdoer, and transgressor. See explanation 2:18, 170; 30:41; and 32:21-22.