Surah Muhammad 47:10
ﲾ ﲿ ﳀ ﳁ ﳂ ﳃ ﳄ ﳅ ﳆ ﳇ ﳈ ﳉ ﳊ ﳋ ﳌ ﳍ ﳎ ﳏ ﳐ
Have they not traveled through the land and seen how was the end of those before them? Allah destroyed [everything] over them, and for the disbelievers is something comparable.
Tafsir of Muhammad 47:10
Tafsir
Ruh al-Ma'ani
Verse range: 47:10
{أفلم يسيروا في الأرض} Meaning: Did they remain in their places and not travel through the earth?
{فينظروا كيف كان عاقبة الذين من قبلهم} Meaning: So that they may observe how the outcome of those before them—the disbelieving nations—turned out. For the ruins of their dwellings proclaim their history.
As for His saying, the Exalted: {دمر الله عليهم} (Allah destroyed them), it is an explanatory resumption. It is as if it were said: "How was their outcome?" So it was said: He destroyed that which pertained specifically to their persons, families, and wealth. It is said: "He destroyed it" (dammara-hu) means he annihilated it; and "He destroyed upon them" (dammara ‘alayhim) means He annihilated that which specifically pertained to them. Thus, dammara ‘alayhim is more emphatic than dammara-hu. The emphasis arises from omitting the direct object and rendering it a thing forgotten, combined with the word of elevation (‘ala), because tadmeer here implies the meaning of falling upon [the object], launching an attack, or the like.
{وللكافرين أمثالها} Meaning: For these disbelievers who follow the same path as their predecessors, there shall be the likes of it—meaning the likes of their outcome or their punishment, as the preceding context indicates. However, this does not mean that these people possess the likes of what those people had and double it, but rather [it means] a likeness. It is made plural in consideration of its equivalence to multiple outcomes according to the number of punished nations.
It is also said: It is permissible that their punishment be more severe than the punishment of the predecessors, for they were killed and taken captive at the hands of those whom they used to belittle and deem weak. Being killed by one's peer is more severe than being destroyed by a general cause. It is also said: The intent by "the disbelievers" is the predecessors, by way of placing the noun in the place of the pronoun; as if it were said: "Allah the Exalted destroyed them in the worldly life, and for them in the Hereafter are the likes thereof."