وَاصْنَعِ الْفُلْكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا وَوَحْيِنَا وَلَا تُخَاطِبْنِي فِي الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا ۚ إِنَّهُم مُّغْرَقُونَ (37)
(11:37) and build the Ark under Our eyes and Our direction. And do not supplicate Me concerning those who have engaged in wrong-doing. They are doomed to be drowned. *40
*40). This demonstrates that when a Messenger communicates his Message to his people, they are granted respite from punishment only as long as it remains possible for the social milieu to produce a reasonable number of good people. As soon as that milieu becomes shorn of good people, and none but the iniquitous remain, then the term of respite ends. At this juncture, God's Mercy itself calls for the destruction of these incorrigible rogues lest they also contaminate others. For to show any further leniency to them would amount to perpetrating an injustice on the whole world and on future generations.