And Allāh created you; then He will take you in death. And among you is he who is reversed to the most decrepit [old] age so that he will not know, after [having had] knowledge, a thing. Indeed, Allāh is Knowing and Competent.
Verse 70 of Surah An-Nahl (16:70), a Meccan surah, is in juz 14, on page 274 of the mushaf. Read it in Arabic with its transliteration, translations and tafsir, and listen to it recited by 73 reciters.
Listen to verse 70 of Surah An-Nahl
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Tafsir of verse 70
Al-Mukhtasar
Allah created you without a precedent; then He will cause you to die when your term of life ends. The lifespan of some of you will be extended to the worst stage of life, which is the severe old-age, when a person will no longer know anything of what he used to know. Allah is knowing, and no action of His servants is hidden from Him. He is powerful and nothing can overpower Him.
Allah has created you, then He causes you to die. Among you are some who are left to reach the most decrepit age45, so that they may know nothing after having known much. Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing, Most Capable.
Notes
[45] i.e., old age when both the physical and mental powers of a human diminish.
And Allâh has created you and then He will cause you to die; and of you there are some who are sent back to senility, so that they know nothing after having known (much). Truly! Allâh is All-Knowing, All-Powerful.
And Allah createth you, then causeth you to die, and among you is he who is brought back to the most abject stage of life, so that he knoweth nothing after (having had) knowledge. Lo! Allah is Knower, Powerful.
It is Allah who creates you and takes your souls at death; and of you there are some who are sent back to a feeble age, so that they know nothing after having known (much): for Allah is All-Knowing, All-Powerful.
And Allah has created you, then He causes you to die, and of you is he who is brought back to the worst part of life, so that after having knowledge he does not know anything; surely Allah is Knowing, Powerful.
And Allah created you; thereafter He takes you (to Him); and of you is he who will be turned back to the most decrepit age, that after knowing somewhat, he may know nothing; surely Allah is Ever-Knowing, Ever-Determiner.
Allāh is the one who created you from weakness, then made after weakness strength, then made after strength weakness and white hair. He creates what He wills, and He is the Knowing, the Competent.
He presents to you an example from yourselves. Do you have among those whom your right hands possess [i.e., slaves] any partners in what We have provided for you so that you are equal therein [and] would fear them as your fear of one another [within a partnership]? Thus do We detail the verses for a people who use reason.
Verses with similar wording
They share a sequence of words with this verse: useful for telling them apart when memorising.
O people, if you should be in doubt about the Resurrection, then [consider that] indeed, We created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot, and then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed - that We may show you. And We settle in the wombs whom We will for a specified term, then We bring you out as a child, and then [We develop you] that you may reach your [time of] maturity. And among you is he who is taken in [early] death, and among you is he who is returned to the most decrepit [old] age so that he knows, after [once having] knowledge, nothing. And you see the earth barren, but when We send down upon it rain, it quivers and swells and grows [something] of every beautiful kind.
