ﲩ ﲪ ﲫ ﲬ ﲭ ﲮ ﲯ ﲰ ﲱ ﲲ ﲳ ﲴ ﲵ ﲶ ﲷ ﲸ ﲹ ﲺ ﲻ
And how many a city have We destroyed that was insolent in its [way of] living, and those are their dwellings which have not been inhabited after them except briefly. And it is We who were the inheritors.
Tafsir
Verse range: 28:58
Meaning: And many are the people of a town whose condition was like the condition of these people—in security, ease of life, and tranquility—until they became ungrateful and deluded, failing to fulfill the obligation of gratitude. So, We destroyed them and devastated their dwellings.
Which you pass by on your journeys, like the stone-dwellings of Thamud.
Remaining un-inhabited after them—following their destruction—except for a little. Meaning: except for a short time, for no one dwells in them except passersby for a day or part of a day. Or: except for a small amount of habitation, its scarcity being in reference to the fewness of the dwellers; it is as if it were said: "None dwelt in them after them except a few people." It has been suggested that the exception is from the dwellings themselves—meaning except for a few of them that were inhabited—though this is remote.
Of them, for no one succeeded them to utilize their dwellings and the rest of their possessions. In al-Kashshaf: "Meaning, We left them in a state where no one dwells, or We ruined them and leveled them to the ground." This indicates that inheritance is either merely their transfer from their owners, or their attachment to what Allah the Exalted created in the beginning; it is as if it returned to its origin and entered into the count of Allah's pure possession, just as it was at first, and this is the meaning of inheritance.
The grammatical status of ma'ishataha (its livelihood) as an accusative is explained by:
