Kam ahlakna min qablihim min qarnin fanadaw walata heena manasin
English
Ahmed Ali
How many generations have We destroyed before them who cried (for mercy) when it was too late for escape.
3
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (how many a generation) past generation (we destroyed before them) before the quraysh, (and they cried out when it was no longer the time for escape!) the angels cried out to them upon their destruction: this is no context for attacking or fleeing; stop! and they stopped until allah destroyed all of them. this is because before this, upon fighting an enemy, they used to say: attack all together! (manas! manas!). some would therefore survive and others die. but when they were defeated by the enemy they used to cry: flee! flee! (manasa! manasa!), and so they used to flee all together from the battlefield. these were two different signs whenever they engaged in fighting either to attack or to flee from the enemy. when allah wished to destroy them, the angels cried out to them: this is no context for attacking or fleeing.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : how many — in other words, many — a generation, a community of past communities, we have destroyed before them, and they cried out, when the chastisement was sent down on them, when it was no longer the time for escape, that is to say, the time was not one for fleeing (the [suffixed] tā’ [of wa-lāta] is extra; the sentence is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the subject of [the verb] nādaw, ‘they cried out’) in other words, they called for help but the situation was such that there could be no escape or deliverance; but still the meccan disbelievers have not taken heed from their example.
