سورة يس، الآية ٣١
أَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّنَ ٱلْقُرُونِ أَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ لَا يَرْجِعُونَ ٣١
alam yaraw kam ahlaknā qablahum mina l-qurūni annahum ilayhim lā yarjiʿūna
Have they not considered how many generations We destroyed before them - that they to them1265 will not return?
[1265] i.e., to those living presently in the world.
Verse 31 of Surah Ya-Sin (36:31), a Meccan surah, is in juz 23, on page 442 of the mushaf. Read it in Arabic with its transliteration, translations and tafsir, and listen to it recited by 71 reciters.
77 recitations by 71 reciters: pick one and it plays in the player.
Did these people who deny and ridicule the messengers not see a lesson in those nations who preceded them? They passed away and did not return to the world a second time. Rather they met the actions they had sent ahead and Allah will recompense them for that.
Do they not see how many generations We destroyed before them who will never come back to them8?
[8] i.e., to the life of this world.
Do they not see how many of the generations We have destroyed before them? Verily, they will not return to them.
Have they not seen how many generations We destroyed before them, which indeed returned not unto them;
See they not how many generations before them we destroyed? Not to them will they return:
Do they not consider how many of the generations have We destroyed before them, because they do not turn to them?
Have they not seen how many generations We have caused to perish before them, (and) that it is not to them that they return?
إِنْ هِىَ إِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا ٱلدُّنْيَا نَمُوتُ وَنَحْيَا وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمَبْعُوثِينَ
It [i.e., life] is not but our worldly life - we die and live, but we will not be resurrected.
They share a sequence of words with this verse: useful for telling them apart when memorising.
أَفَلَمْ يَهْدِ لَهُمْ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّنَ ٱلْقُرُونِ يَمْشُونَ فِى مَسَٰكِنِهِمْ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَٰتٍ لِّأُو۟لِى ٱلنُّهَىٰ
Then, has it not become clear to them how many generations We destroyed before them as they walk among their dwellings? Indeed in that are signs for those of intelligence.
أَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن قَرْنٍ مَّكَّنَّٰهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَا لَمْ نُمَكِّن لَّكُمْ وَأَرْسَلْنَا ٱلسَّمَآءَ عَلَيْهِم مِّدْرَارًا وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلْأَنْهَٰرَ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهِمْ فَأَهْلَكْنَٰهُم بِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَأَنشَأْنَا مِنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ قَرْنًا ءَاخَرِينَ
Have they not seen how many generations We destroyed before them which We had established upon the earth as We have not established you? And We sent [rain from] the sky upon them in showers and made rivers flow beneath them; then We destroyed them for their sins and brought forth after them a generation of others.
