Al-Qur'an Surah Al-A'raf Verse 94

Mufti Taqi Usmani

We did not send any prophet to a town, but We seized its people with hardship and suffering, so that they may turn humble.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

Whenever We sent a prophet to a society, We afflicted its ˹disbelieving˺ people with suffering and adversity, so perhaps they would be humbled.

Ruwwad Translation Center

We have not sent any prophet to a town, but We seized its people with poverty and adversity, so that they may humble themselves.

A. J. Arberry

We have sent no Prophet to any city but that We seized its people with misery and hardship, that haply they might be humble;

Abdul Haleem

Whenever We sent a prophet to a town, We afflicted its [disbelieving] people with suffering and hardships, so that they might humble themselves [before God],

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And We sent not a prophet to any township but We laid hold of the people thereof with tribulation and distress that haply they may humble themselves.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Whenever We sent a prophet to a town, We took up its people in suffering and adversity, in order that they might learn humility.

Abul Ala Maududi

Never have We sent a Prophet to a place without trying its people with adversity and hardship that they may humble themselves.

Ahmed Ali

There is not a region to which We sent a prophet and did not inflict upon its people adversity and hardship so that they may submit.

Ahmed Raza Khan

And never did We send any Prophet to a dwelling but We seized its people with hardship and adversity so that they may become humble.

Ali Quli Qarai

We did not send a prophet to any town without visiting its people with stress and distress so that they might entreat [for Allah’s forgiveness].

Ali Ünal

And We did not send a Prophet to a township but We seized its people with distress and hardship so that they might (wake from heedlessness and) be humble (invoking Us for forgiveness and turning to the truth.)

Amatul Rahman Omar

And never did We send any Prophet to any township but We afflicted its people with destitution (from Our blessings) and with tribulations so that they might grow humble (before the Almighty).

English Literal

And We did not sent in a village/urban city from a prophet except We took its people with the misery/hardships , and the calamity/disastrous distress, maybe/perhaps they become humble and humiliate themselves .

Faridul Haque

And never did We send any Prophet to a dwelling but We seized its people with hardship and adversity so that they may become humble.

Hamid S. Aziz

We have not sent unto a community any prophet but We inflicted the people thereof with tribulation (suffering, distress) and adversity, that per chance (or possibly) they might humble themselves.

Hilali & Khan

And We sent no Prophet unto any town (and they denied him), but We seized its people with suffering from extreme poverty (or loss in wealth) and loss of health and calamities, so that they might humiliate themselves (and repent to Allah).

Maulana Mohammad Ali

So he turned away from them and said: O my people, indeed I delivered to you the messages of my Lord and I gave you good advice; how, then, should I be sorry for a disbelieving people?

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And We did not send a prophet in a town but We overtook its people with distress and affliction in order that they might humble themselves.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

And We sent no prophet unto any township but We did afflict its folk with tribulation and adversity that haply they might grow humble.

Muhammad Sarwar

To every town that We sent a Prophet, We tested its inhabitants through distress and adversity so that perhaps they would submit themselves to Us.

Qaribullah & Darwish

We sent no Prophet to a village but seized its inhabitants with misfortune and adversity in order that they might be humble in supplication.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And We sent no Prophet unto any town (and they denied him), but We seized its people with Ba'sa' and Darra', so that they might humble themselves (to Allah).

Wahiduddin Khan

Whenever We sent a prophet to a town, We afflicted its people with suffering and adversity, so that they might humble themselves [before God],

Talal Itani

We did not send any prophet to any town but We afflicted its people with misery and adversity, so that they may humble themselves.

Tafsir jalalayn

And We did not send a prophet to any city but that, when they denied him, We seized, We punished, its people with misery, abject poverty, and hardship, illness, so that they might be humble, [so that they might be] self-effaced, and so believe.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

Afflictions that struck Earlier Nations

Allah says;

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا فِي قَرْيَةٍ مِّن نَّبِيٍّ إِلاَّ أَخَذْنَا أَهْلَهَا بِالْبَأْسَاء وَالضَّرَّاء لَعَلَّهُمْ يَضَّرَّعُونَ



And We sent no Prophet unto any town (and they denied him), but We seized its people with Ba'sa' and Darra', so that they might humble themselves (to Allah).

Allah mentions the Ba'sa' and Darra' that struck the earlier nations to whom He sent Prophets.
Ba'sa', refers to the physical sicknesses and ailments that they suffered, while Darra', refers to the poverty and humiliation that they experienced,
لَعَلَّهُمْ يَضَّرَّعُونَ
(so that they might humble themselves) supplicate, humble themselves and invoke Allah, that He might remove the afflictions that they suffered from.

This Ayah indicates that Allah sent down severe afflictions to them so that they might invoke Him, but they did not do what He ordered them. Therefore, He changed the affliction into prosperity to test them