19. Surah Maryam

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:



وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْنٍ...   

19: 98.  But how many (countless) generation before them have We destroyed?

C2533. Cf. 19:74, from which this sentence is brought up as a reminiscence, showing the progress of sin, the Guidance which Allah gives to the good, the degradation of blasphemy, the respite granted, and the final End, when personal responsibility will be enforced.

...هَلْ تُحِسُّ مِنْهُم مِّنْ أَحَدٍ أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزًا ﴿٩٨﴾

Canst thou find a single one of them (now) or hear (so much as) a whisper of them?



Other versions:


19:98 Mary, Mecca 44

Wakam ahlakna qablahum min qarnin hal tuhissu minhum min ahadin aw tasmaAAu lahum rikzan

&#x21E8



Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning

Muhammad Asad

 

for, how many a generation have We destroyed before their time - [and] canst thou perceive any one of them [now], or hear any whisper of them?

&#x21E8

M. M. Pickthall

 

And how many a generation before them have We destroyed! Canst thou (Muhammad) see a single man of them, or hear from them the slightest sound?

&#x21E8

Shakir

 

And how many a generation have We destroyed before them! Do you see any one of them or hear a sound of them?

&#x21E8

Yusuf Ali

 

But how many (countless) generations before them have We destroyed? Canst thou find a single one of them (now) or hear (so much as) a whisper of them?

&#x21E8

[Al-Muntakhab]

 

How many generations before them have We reduced to a useless form. Look around and see if you can find any one of them or hear their voice, be it uttered loudly or under their breath!

&#x21E8

[Progressive Muslims]

 

And how many a generation have We destroyed before them Do you perceive any of them or hear from them a sound