Surah Hud (Hud) 11 : 102

Explanatory Note

The same warnings were repeated by every messenger and every prophet. They were told that these false deities could not protect them from God. Their destinies confirmed the earlier warnings. When God’s judgement came to pass, none of their deities could avail them of anything. None was able to spare them any portion of the suffering which befell them. Indeed, their false gods could only add to their ruin. This because when they relied on false gods, they added venom and contempt to their opposition to God’s messengers and His messages. Hence, their punishment was even more severe. This is the meaning of the expression: “they only added.” Indeed, those deities could do them neither good nor harm. They were, however, the cause of their increased punishment.
 
It is only when a community indulges in evil that God takes it to task and brings about its destruction. Punished communities are always bent on evildoing.
 
They do evil when they ascribe a share of Godhead to anyone other than God. They are unjust to themselves when they spread corruption in the land and turn their backs on calls for upright behaviour and for acknowledgement that God is the only deity in the universe. In such communities, injustice spreads and tyrants rule.

Grievous and severe as the punishment in this world is, it is only an indication of the suffering in the hereafter. This is only fully appreciated by those who dread such punishment. These are they who are farsighted enough to realize that the One who punishes evil-doing communities in this life will hold them answerable for their sins in the life to come. Hence, they fear such future-life punishment, and do righteous deeds in this life to spare themselves. At this point, the sūrah portrays scenes from the Day of Judgement, in the familiar Qur’ānic style which relates such scenes to scenes of this world with no gap evident between the two.