| فَلَوْلَا كَانَ مِنَ الْقُرُونِ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ أُولُو بَقِيَّةٍ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْفَسَادِ فِي الْأَرْضِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِمَّنْ أَنْجَيْنَا مِنْهُمْ ۗ وَاتَّبَعَ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مَا أُتْرِفُوا فِيهِ وَكَانُوا مُجْرِمِينَ |
| Asad | : | BUT, ALAS, among those generations [whom We destroyed] before your time there were no people endowed with any virtue146 - [people] who would speak out against the [spread of] corruption on earth - except the few of them whom We saved [because of their righteousness], whereas those who were bent on evildoing only pursued pleasures which corrupted their whole being,147 and so lost themselves in sinning. |
| Malik | : | Why were there not among the generations before you, good persons who could forbid the people from making mischief in the land, except a few of those whom We delivered from among them? The wrongdoers, however, pursued the worldly pleasure they were provided, and became confirmed criminals. |
| Mustafa Khattab | : | If only there had been among the ˹destroyed˺ peoples before you, ˹O believers,˺ virtuous individuals who forbade corruption in the land—other than the few We had saved ˹from the torment˺. But the wrongdoers ˹only˺ pursued their ˹worldly˺ pleasures, becoming wicked. |
| Pickthall | : | If only there had been among the generations before you men possessing a remnant (of good sense ) to warn (their people) from corruption in the earth, as did a few of those whom We saved from them! The wrong-doers followed that by which they were made sapless, and were guilty. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | Why were there not among the generations before you persons possessed of balanced good sense prohibiting (men) from mischief in the earth except a few among them whom We saved (from harm)? But the wrongdoers pursued the enjoyment of the good things of life which were given them and persisted in sin. 1619 1620 |
| Transliteration | : | Falawla kana mina alqurooni min qablikum oloo baqiyyatin yanhawna AAani alfasadi fee alardi illa qaleelan mimman anjayna minhum waittabaAAa allatheena thalamoo ma otrifoo feehi wakanoo mujrimeena |
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For my rendering of the particle law-la, at the beginning of this sentence, as "alas", see surah {10}, note [119]. The present passage connects with the statement in the preceding verse, "God does not fail to requite the doers of good", as well as with {verse 111} above, "unto each and all will thy Sustainer give their due for whatever [good or evil] they may have done". - For the wider implications of the term qarn ("generation"), see surah {6}, note [5]. |
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The verb tarifa means "he enjoyed a life of ease and plenty", while the participle mutraf denotes "one who enjoys a life of ease and plenty" or "indulges in the pleasures of life", i.e., to the exclusion of moral considerations. The form mutarraf has an additional significance, namely, "one whom a life of softness and ease has caused to behave insolently", or "one whom the [exclusive] pursuit of the pleasures of life has corrupted" (Mughni). Hence my above rendering of the phrase ma utrifu fihi. |
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Baqiyat: some virtue or faculty that stands assault and is lasting; balanced good sense that stands firm to virtue and is not dazzled by the lusts and pleasures of this world, and is not deterred by fear from boldly condemning wrong if it was fashionable or customary. It is leaders possessed of such character that can save a nation from disaster or perdition. The scarcity of such leaders-and the rejection of the few who stood out- brought ruin among the nations whose example has already been set out to us as a warning. In xi. 86 the word has a more literal meaning. |
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The exceptional men of firm virtue would have been destroyed by the wicked to whom they were an offence, had they not been saved by the grace and mercy of Allah. Or perhaps, but for such grace, they might themselves have succumbed to the evil around them, or been overwhelmed in the general calamity. |
