Wama ahlakna min qaryatin illa walaha kitabun maAAloomun
English
Ahmed Ali
Not one habitation have We destroyed but at the time determined for it.
4
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (and we destroyed no township) we destroyed no people of a township (but there was a known decree for it) except that there is an appointed term for their destruction.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and we did not destroy any town (min qaryatin: min is extra), meaning, its inhabitants, but that it had a known decree, a [pre-]determined term, after which it would be destroyed.
