Overall meaning : The Almighty says: The Quraysh unbelievers say, ‘If we were to believe in you, Muhammad, and worship Allah alone, the Arab idolaters would certainly expel us from Makkah or kill us for following a religion other than theirs.’ Have We not made for the people of Makkah a safe sanctuary that is secure from anything (such as fighting) that would otherwise violate its sanctity, and to which produce of every kind is brought from different lands as a provision from Us? But most of them have no knowledge and render Allah no thanks for the bounties He has bestowed upon them.
Many communities have We destroyed when they became arrogant on account of their affluence and showed ingratitude to Us for the blessings We had bestowed upon them! These are their dwellings, never again inhabited after their destruction, except a little by passers-by; only We were the inheritors of the dwellings We had given them.
Your Lord, Muhammad, would never destroy a community without first sending to their main centre a messenger, to recite Our revelations to them; nor would We ever destroy a community unless its people stubbornly persist in wrongdoing and become deserving of punishment and destruction.