Transliteration:( Awalam yahdi lahum kam ahlaknaa min qablihim minal qurooni yamshoona fee masaakinihim; inna fee zaalika la aayaatin afalaa yasma'oon )
"And they have not been guided right by this that We have already destroyed many generations before them in whose dwellings they are today walking about. Certainly, in it are signs. Will they not then hear? [52]"
The disbelievers of Makkah, during their trade journeys, would pass by the ruins and desolate dwellings of earlier nations who had been destroyed for their disobedience.
They had historical knowledge—either directly or through learned individuals—that such nations once lived in those areas, and that divine punishment befell them due to their rejection of prophets and defiance of Allah.
This verse calls them to reflect on those ruins, as they are clear signs of divine warning. Yet, they remain heedless.
From this, we learn:
Reflecting upon the ruins of destroyed nations for the sake of gaining lessons and admonition is commendable.
Similarly, visiting the graves (mazārs) of the pious servants of Allah and contemplating their pure lives also strengthens faith and leads to spiritual insight.
26. Is it not a guidance for them: how many generations We have destroyed before them in whose dwellings they do walk about Verily, therein indeed are signs. Would they not then listen 27. Have they not seen how We drive water to the dry land that has no vegetation, and therewith bring forth crops providing food for their cattle and themselves Will they not then see
Allah says: will these people who deny the Messengers not learn from the nations who came before them, whom Allah destroyed for their rejection of His Messengers and their opposition to what the Messengers brought them of the straight path No trace is left of them whatsoever.
(Can you find a single one of them or hear even a whisper of them) (19:98). Allah says:
(in whose dwellings they do walk about) meaning, these disbelievers walk about in the places where those disbelievers used to live, but they do not see any of those who used to live there, for they have gone —
(As if they had never lived there) (11:68) This is like the Ayat:
(These are their houses in utter ruin, for they did wrong) (27:52).
(And many a township did We destroy while they were given to wrongdoing, so that it lie in ruins, and (many) a deserted well and lofty castle! Have they not traveled through the land) until:
(but it is the hearts which are in the breasts that grow blind.) (22:45-46) Allah says here:
(Verily, therein indeed are signs.) meaning, in the fact that these people are gone and have been destroyed, and in what happened to them because they disbelieved the Messengers, and how those who believed in them were saved, there are many signs, proofs and important lessons.
(Would they not then listen) means, to the stories of those who came before and what happened to them. n
(Have they not seen how We drive water to the dry land) Here Allah explains His kindness and goodness towards them by His sending water to them, whether from the sky or from water flowing through the land, water carried by rivers down from the mountains to the lands that need it at particular times. Allah says:
(to the dry land) which means the land where nothing grows, as in the Ayah,
(And verily, We shall make all that is on it a bare dry soil.) (18:8) i.e., barren land where nothing grows. Allah says here:
(Have they not seen how We drive water to the dry land that has no vegetation, and therewith bring forth crops providing food for their cattle and themselves Will they not then see) This is like the Ayah,
(Then let man look at his food: We pour forth water in abundance.) (80:24-25). Allah says here:
(Will they not then see)
(32:26) Did (these historical events) not make them realise that We destroyed many nations before them amidst whose dwellings they now move about?[39] Surely there are many Signs in this. Are they unable to hear?
39. That is, “Have they not learned any lesson from this continuous experience of history that to whichever nation a messenger came, the decision of its destiny became dependent upon the attitude it adopted with regard to him? If it rejected its messenger, it could not escape its doom. The only people to escape were those who believed in the messenger. Those who disbelieved became an object of warning for ever and ever.”
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