aw taqūlū innamā ashraka ābāunā min qablu wakunnā dhurriyyatan min baʿdihim afatuh'likunā bimā faʿala l-mub'ṭilūna
Translation
Or [lest] you say, "It was only that our fathers associated [others in worship] with Allāh before, and we were but descendants after them. Then would You destroy us for what the falsifiers have done?"
Verse 173 of Surah Al-A’raf (7:173), a Meccan surah, is in juz 9, on page 173 of the mushaf. Read it in Arabic with its transliteration, translations and tafsir, and listen to it recited by 72 reciters.
Listen to verse 173 of Surah Al-A’raf
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Tafsir of verse 173
Al-Mukhtasar
'Lest you might say that your ancestors were the ones who broke the promise, taking others as partners with Allah, and that you were just following them. In this way, you would say: 'O our Lord! Will You destroy us for what our ancestors did, making our actions worthless because of taking others as partners with You?! Indeed we carry no sin because we were just following our ancestors and had no knowledge.'
Or that you say, “It was our forefathers before us who associated partners with Allah, and we are their offspring who came after them. Will you then destroy us for the falsehood that they invented?”
Or lest you should say: "It was only our fathers afortime who took others as partners in worship along with Allâh, and we were (merely their) descendants after them; will You then destroy us because of the deeds of men who practised Al-Bâtil (i.e. polytheism and committing crimes and sins, invoking and worshipping others besides Allâh)?" (Tafsir At-Tabarî).
Or lest ye should say: (It is) only (that) our fathers ascribed partners to Allah of old and we were (their) seed after them. Wilt Thou destroy us on account of that which those who follow falsehood did?
Or lest ye should say: "Our fathers before us may have taken false gods, but we are (their) descendants after them: wilt Thou then destroy us because of the deeds of men who were futile?"
Or you should say: Only our fathers associated others (with Allah) before, and we were an offspring after them: Wilt Thou then destroy us for what the vain doers did?
Or that you should not say, "Surely it is only our fathers (who) associated (i.e., associated others with Allah) earlier, and we were (their) offspring even after them. Would You then cause us to perish for what the wrong-doers performed?".
So direct your face [i.e., self] toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fiṭrah of Allāh upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of Allāh. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.
