How can the noble verse, "And never would your Lord have destroyed the cities unjustly while their people were reformers," be reconciled with the noble Hadith, "Shall we be destroyed while there are righteous people among us? He said: Yes, if wickedness becomes widespread," knowing that the righteous do not remain silent about evil?

The noble verse "And your Lord would not destroy the cities unjustly while their people were reformers" indicates that Allah does not destroy the people of cities solely for the injustice of polytheism and disbelief, unless it is accompanied by corruption and the squandering of rights. The hadith "Shall we be destroyed while the righteous are among us? He said: Yes, if evil becomes widespread" indicates that the prevalence of evil and the spread of corruption occur when the quality of reform, which is enjoining good and forbidding evil, is absent. It also indicates that individual righteousness alone does not prevent the spread of evil that leads to destruction. It is clear from the hadith of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq that comprehensive reform is the safety valve against worldly punishments, and that individual righteousness saves its practitioners in the Hereafter, not in this world.