مَآ ءَامَنَتْ قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَٰهَآ ۖ أَفَهُمْ يُؤْمِنُونَ
Commentary:
The verse means to say that if disbelievers demand a "Sign of punishment," then that too is a foolish demand because when punishment overtook them and they were destroyed, how would they believe?
The verse does not mean that the Quraish of Mecca would not believe in the Holy Prophet after Divine punishment overtook them because it is a known fact of history that they did believe in him after Mecca, the centre and source of their glory and prosperity fell. What the verse signifies is that while the peoples of the former Prophets, with the solitary exception of Prophet Jonah’s people, did not believe in them after they were actually visited with punishment, the Holy Prophet’s people would have the opportunity and good luck to believe in him even after having been overtaken by Divine punishment in the Fall of Mecca, the destruction of their idols and the departure of their glory and prestige. Ordinarily, after having suffered a crushing defeat and being wholly at the mercy of the Holy Prophet, they should have received condign punishment which they amply deserved but they were forgiven with a magnanimity unparalleled in the annals of human history, and then they believed in the Prophet.