Is the address in His saying, the Most High: "Has it not become clear to those who inherited the earth after its [former] people that if We willed, We could afflict them for their sins? And We seal over their hearts so they do not hear" directed at the disbelievers of the Ummah, or at disobedient Muslims?

The discourse in the verse (Has it not become clear to those who inherited the earth after its [previous] inhabitants) is directed at the polytheists. And His saying: "Has it not become clear to those who inherited the earth after its [previous] inhabitants" means: Has it not become clear to the polytheists who inherited the earth after its [previous] inhabitants, that if Allah willed, He could have afflicted them for their sins, just as He did with those before them, seizing them for their sins? And this is His way with the ancients and the moderns.