Wakam ahlakna qablahum min qarnin hum ahsanu athathan wariyan
English
Ahmed Ali
How many generations that had far more wealth and ostentation have We laid low before them!
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Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (how many a generation) how many past nations (have we destroyed before them) before quraysh, (who were more imposing about gear) are better looking in outward form (and outward seeming) and have more wealth and offspring!
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and how many — in other words, many — a generation, that is, a community from among the communities of the past, have we destroyed before them, who were superior in [their possession of] gear, in wealth and chattel, and in appearance, [superior] as a sight (ri’yan derives from [the infinitive] al-ru’ya). thus in the same way that we destroyed those [ones] because of their disbelief, we will destroy these [ones also].
