And We did not destroy any region that was not already decreed.
Sayyed Abbas Sadr-Ameli
And never did We destroy a township, but it had a known decree.
Al-muntakhab fi tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim
We never destroyed a city, a people or a nation arbitrarily but according to a justified act. There and then their end is being predetermined and unalterably decreed