"Has it not guided them" — twin verses on destroyed generations
أَفَلَمْ يَهْدِ لَهُمْ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّنَ ٱلْقُرُونِ يَمْشُونَ فِى مَسَٰكِنِهِمْ إِنَّ
afalam yahdi lahum kam ahlaknā qablahum mina l-qurūni yamshūna fī masākinihim inna — Has it then not guided them—how many generations We destroyed before them, [while] they walk about in their dwellings? Indeed…
Two near-identical verses ask whether the destruction of earlier generations has not guided them (the people the verses speak about in the third person), and each closes differently: (20:128) names who the signs are for, while (32:26) turns the signs into a fresh rhetorical question about listening.
The two verses share the same opening question, the same report of how many generations God destroyed before them, and the same image of walking about in those generations' dwellings; the Arabic of this shared material differs only in that (20:128) opens with أَفَلَمْ where (32:26) opens with أَوَلَمْ, and (20:128) has قَبْلَهُم as one word where (32:26) has مِن قَبْلِهِم, an added preposition before the same noun. The verb أَهْلَكْنَا is first person plural, "We destroyed", so the speaker is God. The question verb يَهْدِ is imperfect, and its subject is unstated: the verse does not say what fails to guide them, only that something has not. The interest lies in the endings. In (20:128) the clause إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَٰتٍ is completed by لِّأُو۟لِى ٱلنُّهَىٰ, "signs for possessors of restraint of mind": the verse states that the signs exist for a defined class of people. In (32:26) the same clause إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَٰتٍ stands without any beneficiary and is followed instead by أَفَلَا يَسْمَعُونَ, "will they not then listen?", an imperfect verb with a 3MP subject and attached 3MP pronoun, which follows the signs clause with a question about hearing. The contexts reinforce this split: (20:128) sits between a statement of recompense for whoever was excessive and did not trust the signs (20:127) and a note of a specified term (20:129), while (32:26) stands between God's deciding between them on the Day of Standing (32:25) and a further question about seeing water driven to the cut-off land, closed by أَفَلَا يُبْصِرُونَ (32:27).
Where it occurs
- 20:128 States that the destroyed generations and their dwellings are signs, and specifies their intended recipients as possessors of restraint of mind.
- 32:26 Puts the same question and signs without naming recipients, and instead asks whether they will not listen.
All Qur'anic expressions