Hawzah News Agency- The advance or decline of peoples is bound up with a complex series of causes, which—leaving aside the influence of external factors—is rooted chiefly in the way in which religious beliefs and moral principles are assimilated by the people in question. This principle does not contradict that of divine predestination (qada wa qadar). This is because the principle of causality is itself an expression of the universal will of God. In other words, the will of God manifests itself such that societies chalk out their own destiny by means of their beliefs and actions. A society that bases itself upon justice and rectitude will be prosperous and stable; inversely, one that bases itself upon elements contrary to such principles will find an unpleasant fate in store for it. This principle is referred to in the Quran as the sunnat Allah, ‘the way of God’:
 

When a warner came unto them, it aroused in them naught save repugnance, [shown in their] behaving arrogantly in the land and plotting evil; and the evil plot encloseth but the men who make it. Then, can they expect aught save the treatment of the folk of old? Thou wilt not find for God’s way (sunnat Allah) [of dealing with people] any substitute, nor wilt thou find for God’s way [of dealing with people] aught of power to change. (Sura al-Fatir, XXXV: 42–43)
 

Faint not, nor grieve, for ye will overcome them if ye are [indeed] believers ... These are only the vicissitudes which We cause to follow one another for mankind... (Sura Al Imran, III: 139–14۰))

Reference:

 Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, Doctrines of Shii Islam, A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices, Translated and Edited by Reza Shah-Kazemi, published by I.B.Tauris Publishers, London • New York  2003