Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:59
And those cities - We destroyed them when they wronged, and We made for their destruction an appointed time.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the meaning of the words of Allah the Exalted: وَتِلْكَ الْقُرَى أَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ لَمَّا ظَلَمُوا وَجَعَلْنَا لِمَهْلِكِهِمْ مَوْعِدًا (verse 59)
Allah the Exalted says: And those towns — of ʿĀd, Thamūd, and the Companions of the Wood (Aṣḥāb al-Ayka) — We destroyed their inhabitants when they acted unjustly and rejected the signs of Allah. وَجَعَلْنَا لِمَهْلِكِهِمْ مَوْعِدًا: that is to say: We appointed for their destruction a specific time and a specific term; when they reached it, a punishment befell them with which We destroyed them. He says: Likewise, We have appointed for these polytheists (mushrikīn) from your people, O Muḥammad — who will never believe in you — a promised time; when that promised time befalls them, We will destroy them, in accordance with Our custom with the earlier peoples who were their like.
As Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us — and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najiḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said concerning لِمَهْلِكِهِمْ مَوْعِدًا: "A term (ajal)."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — with the same import.
The reciters differed concerning the reading of لِمَهْلِكِهِمْ. The general body of reciters of the Ḥijāz and Iraq read it as "li-muhlakihim" — with ḍamma on the mīm and fatḥa on the lām — taking it as the verbal noun (maṣdar) of "uhlikū ihlākan." ʿĀṣim read it as "li-mahlikihim" — with fatḥa on both the mīm and the lām — taking it as the verbal noun of "halikū halākan wa-mahlakan."
The reading that is, in my judgment, the most correct is that which reads it as "li-muhlakihim" — with ḍamma on the mīm and fatḥa on the lām — because of the agreement of the authoritative reciters upon it, and on the basis of the argument indicated by His preceding words وَتِلْكَ الْقُرَى أَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ. That the verbal noun should be derived from "ahlaknā" is more fitting, now that it precedes. And it says "ahlaknāhum" while وَتِلْكَ الْقُرَى comes first, because the destruction in reality befell the inhabitants of those towns; the discourse therefore follows the meaning and not the literal word-form. The import of the verse is thus: And those towns, We destroyed their inhabitants when they acted unjustly, and We appointed a promised time for their destruction.
