سورة الزمر، الآية ٥٠
قَدْ قَالَهَا ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ فَمَآ أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ يَكْسِبُونَ ٥٠
qad qālahā alladhīna min qablihim famā aghnā ʿanhum mā kānū yaksibūna
Those before them had already said it, but they were not availed by what they used to earn.
Verse 50 of Surah Az-Zumar (39:50), a Meccan surah, is in juz 24, on page 464 of the mushaf. Read it in Arabic with its transliteration, translations and tafsir, and listen to it recited by 72 reciters.
78 recitations by 72 reciters: pick one and it plays in the player.
This statement was made by the disbelievers before them, but the wealth and status they earned was of no use to them at all.
It was already said by those before them13, but all what they earned was of no avail to them,
[13] Such as Korah. See 28:76-81.
Verily, those before them said it, yet (all) that they had earned availed them not.
Those before them said it, yet (all) that they had earned availed them not;
Thus did the (generations) before them say! But all that they did was of no profit to them.
Those before them did say it indeed, but what they earned availed them not.
The ones before them already said it, yet in no way did whatever they used to earn avail them.
They share a sequence of words with this verse: useful for telling them apart when memorising.
فَمَآ أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ يَكْسِبُونَ
So nothing availed them [from] what they used to earn.
أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ كَانُوٓا۟ أَكْثَرَ مِنْهُمْ وَأَشَدَّ قُوَّةً وَءَاثَارًا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَمَآ أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ يَكْسِبُونَ
Have they not traveled through the land and observed how was the end of those before them? They were more numerous than themselves and greater in strength and in impression on the land, but they were not availed by what they used to earn.
مَآ أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ يُمَتَّعُونَ
They would not be availed by the enjoyment with which they were provided.
