وَإِن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ إِلَّا نَحْنُ مُهْلِكُوهَا قَبْلَ يَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ أَوْ مُعَذِّبُوهَا عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا ۚ كَانَ ذَٰلِكَ فِى ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ مَسْطُورًا
Wa im min qaryatin illaa Nahnu muhlikoohaa qabla Yawmil Qiyaamati aw mu'az ziboohaa 'azaaban shadeedaa; kaana zaalika fil Kitaabi mastooraa
There is no town that we will not destroy before the day of resurrection, or punish with a severe punishment. That stands inscribed in the book.
Every settlement is included and no condition is attached, which is what made this line hard for commentators: elsewhere ruin follows wrongdoing, and they filled the gap by reading the two outcomes apart, destruction for towns that had earned it and severe punishment for the rest, or by taking the whole as a statement that nothing built lasts. Qarya stands for the people rather than the buildings, as at 12:82, where a town is told to be asked.