الر تِلْكَ آيَاتُ الْكِتَابِ وَقُرْآنٍ مُبِينٍ
Alif. Lām. Rā. THESE ARE MESSAGES of revelation – of a discourse clear in itself and clearly showing the truth. (1)
رُبَمَا يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَوْ كَانُوا مُسْلِمِينَ
And it will come to pass that those who are [now] bent on denying this truth will wish that they had surrendered themselves to God [in their lifetime]. (2)
ذَرْهُمْ يَأْكُلُوا وَيَتَمَتَّعُوا وَيُلْهِهِمُ الْأَمَلُ فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ
Leave them alone; let them eat and enjoy themselves the while the hope [of vain delights] beguiles them: for in time they will come to know [the truth]. (3)
وَمَا أَهْلَكْنَا مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ إِلَّا وَلَهَا كِتَابٌ مَعْلُومٌ
And never have We destroyed any community [for its wrongdoing] unless a divine writ had [previously] been made known to it; (4)
مَا تَسْبِقُ مِنْ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلَهَا وَمَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ
[but remember that] no community can ever forestall [the end of] its term – and neither can they delay [it]. (5)
وَقَالُوا يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِي نُزِّلَ عَلَيْهِ الذِّكْرُ إِنَّكَ لَمَجْنُونٌ
And yet, they [who deny the truth] say: "O thou unto whom this reminder has [allegedly] been bestowed from on high: verily, thou art mad! (6)
لَوْ مَا تَأْتِينَا بِالْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنْ كُنْتَ مِنَ الصَّادِقِينَ
Why dost thou not bring before us angels, if thou art a man of truth?" (7)
مَا نُنَزِّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَمَا كَانُوا إِذًا مُنْظَرِينَ
[Yet] We never send down angels otherwise than in accordance with the [demands of] truth; and [were the angels to appear now,] lo! they [who reject this divine writ] would have no further respite! (8)
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ
Behold, it is We Ourselves who have bestowed from on high, step by step, this reminder: and, behold, it is We who shall truly guard it [from all corruption]. (9)
وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ فِي شِيَعِ الْأَوَّلِينَ
AND, INDEED, [O Prophet,] even before thy time did We send [Our apostles] unto communities of old (10)
وَمَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ
and never yet came an apostle to them without their deriding him. (11)
كَذَٰلِكَ نَسْلُكُهُ فِي قُلُوبِ الْمُجْرِمِينَ
Even so do We [now] cause this [scorn of Our message] to pervade the hearts of those who are lost in sin, (12)
لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ وَقَدْ خَلَتْ سُنَّةُ الْأَوَّلِينَ
who do not believe in it, although the way which those [evildoers] of olden times had to go has long been within their ken. (13)
وَلَوْ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ بَابًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فَظَلُّوا فِيهِ يَعْرُجُونَ
Yet even had We opened to them a gateway to heaven and they had ascended, on and on, up to it, (14)
لَقَالُوا إِنَّمَا سُكِّرَتْ أَبْصَارُنَا بَلْ نَحْنُ قَوْمٌ مَسْحُورُونَ
they would surely have said, "It is only our eyes that are spellbound! Nay, we have been bewitched!" (15)
- And never have We destroyed any community [for its wrongdoing] unless a divine writ had [previously] been made known to it;4
- 4 Lit., "unless it [the community] had a known divine writ (kitab ma'lum)" - i.e., unless the people in question had been shown through a divine writ the meaning of right and wrong, and had deliberately rejected this divine guidance: cf. the statement, in 26:208, that "never have We destroyed any community unless it had had its warners", or in 6:131, that God "would never destroy a community for its wrongdoing so long as its people are still unaware [of the meaning of right and wrong]".
- Never did We destroy a population that had not a term decreed and assigned beforehand.1938
- 1938 Kitab malum: literally, "a writing known". There are many shades of meaning implied. (1) For every people, as for every individual, there is a definite Term assigned: their faculty of choice gives them the opportunity of moulding their will according to Allah's Will, and thus identifying themselves with Allah's Universal Law. During that Term they will be given plenty of rope: after that Term is past, there will be no opportunity for repentance. (2) Neither the righteous nor the ungodly can hasten or delay the doom: Allah's Will must prevail, and He is All- Wise. (3) The destruction of a people is not an arbitrary punishment from Allah: the people bring it on themselves by their own choice: for the fixed Law or Decree of Allah is always made known to them beforehand, and in many ways.
-
Never did We destroy a population that had not a term decreed and assigned beforehand.
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
And We destroyed no township but there was a known decree for it.
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
And never did We destroy a town but it had a term made known.
— M. Habib Shakir -
And never did We destroy a township but there was a known decree for it.
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
And We have not destroyed a town but there was therefor a decree known.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
We never destroyed a village whose term had not already been decreed.
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
And whatever city We destroyed, there was a known decree for it.
— Ayub Khan -
And never a town have We destroyed but there was for it a known decree.
— Sher Ali -
And never have We destroyed any community [for its wrongdoing] unless a divine writ had [previously] been made known to it;
— Muhammad Asad -
Never a city have We destroyed, but it had a known decree,
— Arthur Arberry -
Whenever We destroyed a town, a definite term had previously been decreed for it.{{2}}
— Abu'l Ala Maududi