سورة مريم، الآية ٩٨
وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْنٍ هَلْ تُحِسُّ مِنْهُم مِّنْ أَحَدٍ أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزًۢا ٩٨
wakam ahlaknā qablahum min qarnin hal tuḥissu min'hum min aḥadin aw tasmaʿu lahum rik'zan
And how many have We destroyed before them of generations? Do you perceive of them anyone or hear from them a sound?
Verse 98 of Surah Maryam (19:98), a Meccan surah, is in juz 16, on page 312 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.
How many communities I have destroyed before your people! Do you perceive a single one of those communities today, or hear any sound from them? What afflicted them may afflict others when Allah gives permission.
How many generations We have destroyed before them! Do you sense a single one of them or even hear from them a whisper?
And how many a generation before them have We destroyed! Can you (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) find a single one of them or hear even a whisper of them?
And how many a generation before them have We destroyed! Canst thou (Muhammad) see a single man of them, or hear from them the slightest sound?
But how many (countless) generations before them have We destroyed? Canst thou find a single one of them (now) or hear (so much as) a whisper of them?
And how many a generation have We destroyed before them! Do you see any one of them or hear a sound of them?
And how many a generation We caused to perish before them! Do you perceive even so much as one of them or hear of them a murmur?
They share a sequence of words with this verse: useful for telling them apart when memorising.
وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْنٍ هُمْ أَحْسَنُ أَثَٰثًا وَرِءْيًا
And how many a generation have We destroyed before them who were better in possessions and [outward] appearance?
وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْنٍ هُمْ أَشَدُّ مِنْهُم بَطْشًا فَنَقَّبُوا۟ فِى ٱلْبِلَٰدِ هَلْ مِن مَّحِيصٍ
And how many a generation before them did We destroy who were greater than them in [striking] power and had explored throughout the lands. Is there any place of escape?
