Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Isra Verse 17

Mufti Taqi Usmani

How many a generation have We destroyed after NūH! And enough is your Lord to know, (and) watch the sins of His servants.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

˹Imagine˺ how many peoples We have destroyed after Noah! And sufficient is your Lord as All-Aware and All-Seeing of the sins of His servants.

Ruwwad Translation Center

How many generations We have destroyed since the time Noah! Your Lord is sufficient as All-Aware and All-Seeing of the sins of His slaves.

A. J. Arberry

How many generations We have destroyed after Noah! Thy Lord suffices as one who is aware of and sees the sins of His servants.

Abdul Haleem

How many generations We have destroyed since Noah! Your Lord knows and observes the sins of His servants well enough.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

How many a generation have We destroyed after Nuh; and sufficeth for the offences of His bondmen thy Lord as the Aware, the Beholder.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

How many generations have We destroyed after Noah? and enough is thy Lord to note and see the sins of His servants.

Abul Ala Maududi

Many a generation has been destroyed by Our command since Noah's time. Your Lord is well aware and fully observant of the sins of His servants.

Ahmed Ali

"How many generations have We laid low after Noah, for your Lord knows and notices well enough the sins of His creatures.

Ahmed Raza Khan

And many a generation We did destroy after Nooh! And Allah is Sufficient, Aware of the sins of His bondmen, the Beholder.

Ali Quli Qarai

How many generations We have destroyed since Noah! Your Lord is sufficient as [a witness who is] well aware and percipient of His servants’ sins.

Ali Ünal

How many a generation have We (thus) destroyed after Noah! Your Lord suffices as one All-Aware and All-Seeing of the sins of His servants.

Amatul Rahman Omar

(In accordance with this rule of Ours) We have destroyed many a generation after Noah. And your Lord suffices as One Who is Aware and Beholder of the sins of His servants.

English Literal

And how many We destroyed/perished from the generations/peoples of eras from after Noah, and enough/sufficient with your Lord with His worshippers`/slaves` crimes, (He is) expert/experienced, seeing/knowing/understanding.

Faridul Haque

And many a generation We did destroy after Nooh! And Allah is Sufficient, Aware of the sins of His bondmen, the Beholder.

Hamid S. Aziz

How many generations have We destroyed after Noah. Your Lord is sufficient as Knower and Beholder of the sins of his servant.

Hilali & Khan

And how many generations have We destroyed after Nuh (Noah)! And Sufficient is your Lord as an All-Knower and All-Beholder of the sins of His slaves.

Maulana Mohammad Ali

And when We wish to destroy a town, We send commandments to its people who lead easy lives, but they transgress therein; thus the word proves true against it, so We destroy it with utter destruction.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And how many of the generations did We destroy after Nuh! and your Lord is sufficient as Knowing and Seeing with regard to His servants' faults.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

How many generations have We destroyed since Noah! And Allah sufficeth as Knower and Beholder of the sins of His slaves.

Muhammad Sarwar

We have destroyed many generations after the time of Noah. Your Lord is All knowing and Well Aware of the sins of His servants.

Qaribullah & Darwish

How many generations have We destroyed since Noah! Your Lord suffices as One who is Aware of and sees the sins of His worshipers.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And how many generations have We destroyed after Nuh! And sufficient is your Lord as All-Knower and Seer of the sins of His servants.

Wahiduddin Khan

How many generations have We destroyed since Noah's time. Your Lord is well aware of the sins of His servants and observes them all.

Talal Itani

How many generations have We destroyed after Noah? Your Lord is sufficient as Knower and Beholder of the sins of his servants.

Tafsir jalalayn

How many -- in other words, many -- generations, communities, We have destroyed since Noah! And your Lord suffices as One Informed and Beholder of the sins of His servants, Knower of the hidden and manifest aspects of these [sins] (bi-rabbika, `your Lord', is semantically connected to bi-dhunb, `of the sins').

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

A Threat to Quraysh

Allah says;

وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِنَ الْقُرُونِ مِن بَعْدِ نُوحٍ

And how many generations have We destroyed after Nuh!

Warning the disbelievers of the Quraysh for rejecting His Messenger Muhammad, Allah says that He destroyed other nations who rejected the Messengers after Nuh.

This indicates that during the centuries between Adam and Nuh, humans were following Islam, as Ibn Abbas said;

"Between Adam and Nuh there were ten generations, during all of which humans were following Islam."

The meaning (of the Ayah) is;

"You disbelievers are not more dear to Allah than they were, and you have rejected the most noble of the Messengers and the best of creation, so you are more deserving of punishment."

وَكَفَى بِرَبِّكَ بِذُنُوبِ عِبَادِهِ خَبِيرًَا بَصِيرًا



And sufficient is your Lord as All-Knower and Seer of the sins of His servants.

means, He knows everything they do, good and evil, and nothing at all is hidden from Him, may He be glorified and exalted