And when We intend to destroy a city, We command its affluent733 but they defiantly disobey therein; so the word [i.e., deserved decree] comes into effect upon it, and We destroy it with [complete] destruction.
Verse 16 of Surah Al-Isra (17:16), a Meccan surah, is in juz 15, on page 283 of the mushaf. Read it in Arabic with its transliteration, translations and tafsir, and listen to it recited by 73 reciters.
Listen to verse 16 of Surah Al-Isra
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Tafsir of verse 16
Al-Mukhtasar
When I decided to destroy a town because of its wrongdoing, I instructed those who became reckless because of affluence, to obey Allah but they did not comply. And instead they disobeyed Him and transgressed, so the word of the decimating punishment became justified against them and I destroyed them completely.
Whenever We decide to destroy a town, We command its affluent ones [to obey Allah] but they defiantly disobey, so the punishment becomes inevitable, and We destroy it completely.
And when We decide to destroy a town (population), We (first) send a definite order (to obey Allâh and be righteous) to those among them [or We (first) increase in number those of its population] who lead a life of luxury. Then, they transgress therein, and thus the word (of torment) is justified against it (them). Then We destroy it with complete destruction.
And when We would destroy a township We send commandment to its folk who live at ease, and afterward they commit abomination therein, and so the Word (of doom) hath effect for it, and we annihilate it with complete annihilation.
When We decide to destroy a population, We (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then (it is) We destroy them utterly.
And when We wish to destroy a town, We send Our commandment to the people of it who lead easy lives, but they transgress therein; thus the word proves true against it, so We destroy it with utter destruction.
And when We will to cause a town to perish, We command its (people) luxurious (life), then they committed immorality therein; so the Word came true against it, (and) then We destroyed it an utter destruction.
The example of [this] worldly life is but like rain which We have sent down from the sky that the plants of the earth absorb - [those] from which men and livestock eat - until, when the earth has taken on its adornment and is beautified and its people suppose that they have capability over it, there comes to it Our command by night or by day, and We make it as a harvest, as if it had not flourished yesterday. Thus do We explain in detail the signs for a people who give thought.
