4وَما أَهلَكنا مِن قَريَةٍ إِلّا وَلَها كِتابٌ مَعلومٌMuhammad AsadAnd never have We destroyed any community[for its wrongdoing] unless a divine writ had [previously] been made known to it;1Lit., "unless it [the community] had a known divine writ (kitab ma'lum)"- i.e., unless the people in question had been shown through a divine writ the meaning of right and wrong, and had deliberately rejected this divine guidance: cf. the statement, in 26:208, that "never have We destroyed any community unless it had had its warners", or in 6:131, that God "would never destroy a community for its wrongdoing so long as its people are still unaware [of the meaning of right and wrong]".