Heleke is interpreted in four ways:
1. Heleke means to die; as in the following verses:
If a man helak (i.e., dies)... (al-Nisāʾ 4:176)
Or you will be among those who are helak (i.e., among the dead / those who have died). (Yūsuf 12:85) There is no city but that We will helak it (i.e., We will cause its people to die) before the Day of Resurrection or punish it with a severe punishment. (al-Isrāʾ 17:58)
Everything will helak except His Face (i.e., except Allah—surely He does not die—all living beings will die). (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:88)
2. al-Helāk is used in the sense of punishment; as in the following verses:
And those towns—We helak them (i.e., We punished the disbelieving communities in the lands where previous nations lived) when they wronged (i.e., when they committed shirk [associating partners with God]). And We made for their helak (i.e., for the punishment of those disbelieving communities) an appointed time. (al-Kahf 18:59)
We did not helak any city (i.e., We did not punish the disbelieving communities in the towns where previous nations lived) except that it had a known decree. (al-Ḥijr 15:4)
Your Lord would not helak the towns (i.e., would not punish the people of the lands) until He had sent to their mother city a messenger. (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:59)
How many generations We helak before them (i.e., how many generations We punished before the disbelievers of Mecca). (al-Anʿām 6:6)
3. Heleke is used in the sense of loss / disappearance; as in the following verse:
My sultan (i.e., my proof / evidence) has helak (i.e., disappeared—I have no evidence to present). (al-Ḥāqqa 69:29)
4. al-Helāk is used in the sense of corruption; as in the following verses:
He helak (i.e., corrupts) crops and progeny. (al-Baqara 2:205)
I have helak (i.e., corrupted / consumed) abundant wealth. (al-Balad 90:6)