Аль-Мурсалят 77:15–24

وَيْلٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلْمُكَذِّبِينَ (Woe, that Day, to the deniers!...77:15) The word wail means 'destruction'. According to certain Hadith narratives, the word wail is a 'valley of Hell where the pus of the wounds of the inmates of Hell will be collected. This is the place where the deniers will live. After this, the present-day people are asked to learn a lesson from [ the destruction ] of the former generations, thus:

أَلَمْ نُهْلِكِ الْأَوَّلِينَ (Did We not destroy the earlier people?...77:16) It refers to the nations of ` Ad, Thamud, nation of Lut (علیہ السلام) and Fir'aun (The Pharaoh) who were destroyed because of their obstinacy.

ثُمَّ نُتْبِعُهُمُ الْآخِرِ‌ينَ (Then We will cause the later ones to follow them....77:17) According to popular reading, Verse 17 purports to say that the present-day infidels, the people of Makkah, will receive punishment soon. They were punished and destroyed by Muslims in the Battle of Badr and so on. The difference between the punishment of former nations and the community of the Holy Prophet ﷺ is as follows: The former nations used to be destroyed by celestial punishment with all their habitations. The infidels in the community of the Holy Prophet ﷺ do not receive celestial punishment, because of the Holy Prophet's ﷺ special honour. They are punished by the weapons of Muslims. Furthermore, the destruction is not general. Only the obdurate criminal leaders are destroyed.