The divine law mentioned here virtually says if a people change internally...

The divine law mentioned here virtually says if a people change internally, their material condition and social position are bound to change consequently. Hence divine law has been stated in the form of a conditional statement. The following verse is another example of a law expressed by means of a conditional statement: If they continue to tread the right path, we shall give them to drink of water in abundance.

(Surah al Jinn, 72: 16) We have already said that this verse speaks of a law of history, according to which good produce depends on fair distribution. This is a clear case of a conditional statement. Another example is provided by the following verse: When We would destroy a township, We send commandment to its people who live at ease, and afterward they commit abomination therein and so the word (of doom) has effect on it, and We annihilate it with complete annihilation.

(Surah Bani Isra'il, 17: 17) In this verse also a historical norm has been stated in the form of a conditional statement. Here two things have been combined, one of them being the direction of the command of Allah to the wicked and those who live at ease and their disobedience of these commandments, and the other being the consequent destruction and annihilation of such a society. This is another law of history put forward as a conditional statement.

The law does not say in which circumstances the condition mentioned in it is to materialize. It only stipulates that as and when the condition will materialize, the consequent clause of the law is also bound to materialize with it. This is the first form in which the laws of history have been mentioned in the Qur'an. (ii) The second form in which the laws of history have been advanced in the Qur'an is that of a definite and unqualified statement.

In many cases the laws of nature are stated in this way also. When an astronomical prediction is made on the basis of the movement of the planets, such as the prediction about the time of a lunar or a solar eclipse, no condition is attached to such a statement. In this case a scientific law or a scientific question is put forward as a definite and unconditional statement. Man can in no way influence or modify the conditions and the circumstances of such occurrences.

Therefore a prediction about them is made in the form of a definite and unqualified statement without any conditions being attached to it.