The Command to Stand Firm and Straight

Allah, the Exalted, commands His Messenger and His believing servants to be firm and to always be upright. This is of the greatest aid for gaining victory over the enemy and confronting the opposition. Allah also forbids transgression, which is to exceed the bounds (of what is allowed). Verily, transgression causes destruction to its practitioner, even if the transgression was directed against a polytheist. Then, Allah informs that He is All-Seer of the actions of His servants. He is not unaware of anything and nothing is hidden from Him. Concerning Allah's statement,

وَلاَ تَرْكَنُواْ إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ

Commentary

Events relating to past prophets and their peoples, from Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) to Sayyidna Musa, have been mentioned in Surah Hud in a fair enough order and detail with many wise counsels, injunctions and directives. At the end of the description of these events, it is by ad-dressing the Holy Prophet ﷺ that his entire community has been exhorted to draw their essential lessons from them. It was said: ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الْقُرَ‌ىٰ نَقُصُّهُ عَلَيْكَ ۖ مِنْهَا قَائِمٌ وَحَصِيدٌ (That is a part of the stories of the towns that We narrate to you. Some of them are standing, and (some) harvested - 100). It means that some of the habitations that were visited by Divine punishment still have their ruins standing while some others have been erased like harvested fields with no signs of what was there in the past.