So, he turned away from them and said, “O my people, I have surely delivered to you the message of my Lord, and wished your betterment. How, then, should I grieve over a disbelieving people?”
Thereafter, We substituted good in place of evil until they increased, and said, “Hardship and prosperity came to our fathers (too).” Then We seized them suddenly while they were not aware.
If the people of the towns believed and feared Allah, We would have opened for them blessings from the heavens and the earth, but they disbelieved. So, We seized them because of what they used to earn for themselves.
Have all these events still not taught a lesson to those who inherit the land after its (former) inhabitants, that if We so willed, We could afflict them for their sins? But We seal their hearts, so that they do not listen.
Those are the towns We narrate to you their important events. Surely their messengers came to them with clear signs, but they were not able to believe in what they had rejected earlier. This is how Allah seals the hearts of the disbelievers.