Allah's Destruction

Have they not considered how many generations We destroyed before them? We had granted them greater stability on earth, sent down abundant rain, and made rivers flow beneath them, yet We wiped them out for their sins and replaced them with new peoples.

How many generations We destroyed before them, who were mightier in strength? They searched the lands, was there any escape?

How many generations have We destroyed after Noah?

In that is a reminder for whoever has a heart, or listens attentively with presence of mind.

And by morning, a relentless punishment overtook them

So, taste My punishment and warning!

When generations before me have already passed away?”, while they call to Allah for help: “Woe to you! Believe!

Those are the ones against whom the word has come into effect, along with communities before them of jinn and humans; they were truly losers.

Each will have ranks according to what they did, so He may fully repay them for their deeds, and none will be wronged.

Then, when they saw it as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said, “This is a cloud bringing us rain.” No, it is what you sought to hasten: a wind with painful punishment

Destroying everything by the command of its Lord. By morning, nothing could be seen but their ruins. Thus do We repay the guilty people.

But how many generations before them did We destroy, who were greater in wealth and splendour?

How many generations before them have We destroyed? Do you perceive even a trace of them or hear from them a whisper?

How many generations before them did We destroy? They cried out, but escape was beyond reach.

Have they not reflected that We destroyed many generations before them who walked the earth? Surely in this are signs for those of understanding.

So be patient with what they say, and glorify your Lord with praise before sunrise and before sunset, and during the night, and at the edges of the day, so that you may be pleased.

When We intend to destroy a town, We command its affluent ones, but they transgress, so the decree is justified, and We annihilate it completely.

How many towns were mightier than yours, which expelled you? We destroyed them, and they had no helper.

So, We destroyed those who were mightier than them, and the example of the ancients has passed.

Is one who stands upon clear proof from his Lord like one whose evil deeds are made to seem fair to him, and who follows his own desires?

How many towns have We destroyed while they were steeped in wrongdoing! Now they lie in ruins, with wells abandoned and palaces deserted.

How many towns did I give respite to while they were unjust? Then I seized them, and to Me is the final return.

How many communities rebelled against their Lord’s command and His messengers!

But no town before them believed when We sent signs, will they believe now?

“They spurned every sign We sent, so We struck them down with the relentless grip of the Almighty

This is how your Lord seizes cities when they persist in wrongdoing

Did the people of the towns feel secure that Our punishment would not come upon them by night while they slept?

We destroyed those towns when they wronged, and We set a fixed time for their destruction.

How many towns have We destroyed! Our punishment came upon them by night or while they rested at noon.

When Our punishment struck them, their only cry was, “We were indeed wrongdoers!”

Or did they feel secure that Our punishment would not strike them by day while they played?

Did they feel safe from Allah’s plan? None feels secure from Allah’s plan except those who are truly lost.

Surely the Day of Decision is their appointed time, all together.

We have destroyed towns around you, and We varied the signs so they might return.

There is no town We will not destroy before the Day of Judgment or punish severely.

How many towns have We destroyed for their wrongdoing, raising up others after them?

We never destroyed a town except that it had a known decree.

No nation can hasten its end, nor delay it.

We never destroyed a town without sending warners

As a reminder, and We were never unjust.

It does not suit them, nor could they have done so.

They are barred from even listening.

That is because your Lord would not destroy towns unjustly while their people were unaware.

For all, there are degrees according to their deeds. Your Lord is not unaware of what they do.

Surely, in that are signs for those who discern.

How many generations before them have We destroyed? Do you perceive even a trace of them or hear from them a whisper?

The blast seized those who had wronged, and they lay lifeless in their homes.

When they sensed Our punishment, they fled.

“Do not run away! Return to your luxuries and homes, so you may be questioned.”

They cried, “Woe to us! We were wrongdoers.”

Their cries continued until We made them lifeless, like harvested fields.

When they ignored Our warnings, We opened the gates of everything for them, until, suddenly, they were seized in despair.

Thus, the wrongdoers were uprooted.

This is how your Lord seizes cities when they persist in wrongdoing.

Say to the disbelievers: If they desist, their past will be forgiven. But if they persist, then the fate of those before them has already been sealed.

Those before them plotted, but Allah struck at their foundations, causing their roofs to collapse upon them. Punishment came upon them from where they never expected.

Like Pharaoh’s people and those before them, they rejected Allah’s signs, so He seized them for their sins.

This is because Allah never changes a blessing He grants a people unless they change what is within themselves.

Like Pharaoh’s people and those before them, they denied their Lord’s signs, so We destroyed them for their sins and drowned Pharaoh’s people. They were all wrongdoers.

Have they not travelled the land and seen the fate of those before them? They were greater in strength and left deeper marks on the earth, yet Allah seized them for their sins.

We have appointed only angels as guardians of the Fire, and made their number a trial for the disbelievers, so that the People of the Book may be certain, and the believers may grow in faith, and no doubt remains for the People of the Book or the believers. But those with sickness in their hearts and the disbelievers will say, “What does Allah mean by this example?” Thus, Allah leads astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. None knows the armies of your Lord but He. This is only a reminder for humanity.

On the Day they see the angels, there will be no glad tidings for the guilty, and they will cry, “A barrier between us!”

We will summon the guardians.

“Gather the wrongdoers, their partners, and all they used to worship

Besides Allah, and lead them to the path of Hell.

When angels take the souls of those who wronged themselves, they ask, “What was your condition?” They reply, “We were oppressed in the land.” The angels say, “Was Allah’s earth not vast enough for you to migrate?”

O My servants who believe, My earth is vast.

If the wrongdoers possessed all the treasures of the earth and twice as much, they would offer it to ransom themselves from the punishment on the Day of Judgment. But Allah will show them what they never expected.

And those who fear the punishment of their Lord

Indeed, the punishment of their Lord is not to be taken lightly.

No indeed! We created them from what they know.

So leave them to plunge and play, until they meet their promised Day.

If you marvel, then marvel at their words: “Will we truly be resurrected after becoming dust?” These are the ones who reject their Lord