وَمَا أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَرْيَةٍ إِلاَّ وَلَهَا كِتَابٌ مَّعْلُومٌ
Wama ahlakna min qaryatin illa walaha kitabun maAAloomun
Yusuf Ali
Never did We destroy a population that had not a term decreed and assigned beforehand.
Recitation
Pickthall
And We destroyed no township but there was a known decree for it.
Shakir
And never did We destroy a town but it had a term made known.
Hausa — Gumi
Kuma ba Mu halakar da wata alƙarya ba fãce tanã da littafi sananne.
Yoruba
The Yoruba translation exists only as a scanned image.
Tafsir Ibn Kathir
Every Township has its allotted Time
Allah says:
وَمَا أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَرْيَةٍ إِلاَّ وَلَهَا كِتَابٌ مَّعْلُومٌ ﴿٤﴾
مَّا تَسْبِقُ مِنْ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلَهَا وَمَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ ﴿٥﴾
And never did We destroy a township but there was a known decree for it. No nation can advance its term, nor delay it.
Allah is informing that He never destroys a township until He has established evidences for it and its allotted time has ended. When the time for a nation's destruction has come, He never delays it, and He never moves its appointed time forward.
This was a message and a warning to the people of Makkah, telling them to give up their Shirk, their stubbornness and disbelief for which they deserved to be destroyed.
تفسير ابن كثير
يخبر تعالى أنه ما أهلك قرية إلا بعد قيام الحجة عليها وانتهاء أجلها .
تفسير الجلالين
"وما أهلكنا من" زائدة "قرية" أريد أهلها "إلا ولها كتاب" أجل "معلوم" محدود لإهلاكها
تفسير القرطبي
أي أجل مؤقت كتب لهم في اللوح المحفوظ .
إعراب — grammatical analysis
«وَما» الواو حرف استئناف وما نافية.
«أَهْلَكْنا» ماض وفاعله والجملة مستأنفة.
«مِنْ» حرف جر زائد.
«قَرْيَةٍ» مفعول به مجرور لفظا منصوب محلا.
«إِلَّا» أداة حصر.
«وَلَها كِتابٌ» الواو حالية وكتاب مبتدأ مؤخر والجار والمجرور متعلقان بالخبر المقدم.
«مَعْلُومٌ» صفة .