ﲽ ﲾ ﲿ ﳀ ﳁ ﳂ ﳃ ﳄ ﳅ ﳆ ﳇ ﳈ ﳉ ﳊ ﳋ ﳌ ﳍ ﳎ ﳏ ﳐ ﳑ
And never would your Lord have destroyed the cities until He had sent to their mother a messenger reciting to them Our verses. And We would not destroy the cities except while their people were wrongdoers.
Tafsir
Verse range: 28:59
"And your Lord would not..."
"And it was not the habit of your Lord to destroy the towns at any time {until He sends in} the town {which is its mother}—meaning its origin and its capital city, which includes its districts and dependencies—{a messenger} to establish the proof and cut off any excuse, despite His knowledge that they would not believe."
"Or, it was not in the decree of Allah and His prior judgment to destroy the towns on earth until He sent in the center of the towns—meaning Makkah—a messenger, who is Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Seal of the Prophets."
(Note: The word "umm" (mother) is read with both a damma and a kasra on the hamza, not with a kasra [in the sense of a genitive construction].)
"This is an explanation of His justice and His transcendence above injustice. He informs us that He does not destroy them unless they deserve destruction through their own wrongdoing. Furthermore, He does not destroy them while they are wrongdoers until after confirming the proof and establishing the obligation through the sending of messengers. He does not make His [prior] knowledge of their states a proof against them."
"He declared Himself transcendent above destroying them while they are not wrongdoers, as He, the Exalted, said: 'And your Lord would not destroy the towns unjustly while their people were reformers' (Hūd: 117). He explicitly stated in His saying 'unjustly' that if He were to destroy them while they were reformers, that would be an injustice on His part. His state, in His self-sufficiency and wisdom, is incompatible with injustice. He indicated this with the particle of negation accompanied by the lam (of denial), just as Allah, the Exalted, said: 'And Allah would not let your faith go to waste' (al-Baqarah: 143)."
"{And whatever you have been given is but [for] enjoyment of the worldly life and its adornment. And what is with Allah is better and more lasting; so will you not use your reason?}"
