Al-Ahqaf (The Dunes)

27. And verily We have destroyed towns round about you and We have shown [them] the Signs in various ways that they might return [from error to the Truth].

Annihilation and Divine Wrath follow the ultimatum given by prophets. Studying the history of peoples closer to us in terms of time may bear further results. The blessed Verse in question refers to the preceding one saying that in the same manner that the people of ‘Ad were annihilated as a consequence of their opposition against their prophet, he inhabitants of the villages around you, namely within the vicinity of Mecca were also destroyed.

Consider the peoples of Hud (as) in the Yemen, Salih (as) in Hijr, and Thamud in Sodom, and Lot on your way to Sham [viz. Syria, Palestine, East Jordan, Lebanon, and the northwestern parts of the Fertile Crescent] and take a lesson. God recurrently showed His Signs and the Tokens of His Omnipotence unto them so that they may turn away from disbelief to Monotheism. Failing to do so, they were afflicted with the torment as a consequence of their vicious deeds.

The Verse refers to the fact that God repeatedly shows His Signs in the forms of miracles, threats, rewards of Paradise, Heavenly Bounties, Tokens of His Omnipotence, poverty, and hardships so that man may forego his obduracy. God gives an Ultimatum to man to not deny the Divine Message, harming prophets and the faithful. Failing to take a lesson, man will be afflicted with torment so that others may take a lesson.