117 Preface وَما كانَ رَبُّكَ لِيُهلِكَ القُرىٰ بِظُلمٍ وَأَهلُها مُصلِحونَYusuf AliNor would thy Lord be the One to destroy communities for a single wrongdoing,1 if its members were likely to mend.There are different shades of interpretation for this verse. I follow Baydawi in construing zulmin here as “a single wrong”. He thinks that the wrong referred to is shirk, or polytheism; God will not destroy for mere wrong belief if the conduct is right. I am inclined to interpret it in more general terms. God is Long-Suffering and Oft-Forgiving: He is too Merciful to destroy for a single wrong, if there is any hope of reclaiming the wrongdoers to repentance and amendment or right life. An alternative interpretation is: “to destroy communities unjustly.”.###.