The Quran

فَلَمّا جاءَتهُم رُسُلُهُم بِالبَيِّناتِ فَرِحوا بِما عِندَهُم مِنَ العِلمِ وَحاقَ بِهِم ما كانوا بِهِ يَستَهزِئونَ

Ali Unal

When their Messengers came to them with manifest truths, they chose to remain in pleasure and pride only in the (narrow, superficial) knowledge they had (about the worldly life and the means to enjoy it), and what they used to mock (God’s promised punishment) overwhelmed them.¹

This verse apparently alludes to modern times. Modern people are content with the worldly life and spend their whole life in pursuing the means for deriving the greatest possible pleasure from worldly life. They admire accomplishments in science and technology and use them only for the worldly pleasures, in complete ignorance and negligence of the other life. Seeking worldly pleasures causes ruthless competition in using material resources and never-ending conflicts, including world wars. These events are obviously God’s mighty punishments. However, it seems that, being immersed in scientific materialism, modern people do not take lessons from these events.