Tafseer of Mary · Maryam · 19:98
And how many have We destroyed before them of generations? Do you perceive of them anyone or hear from them a sound?
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.
He — exalted be His praise — says: and many a generation before your people, O Muḥammad, among the polytheists (mushrikīn) of the Quraysh, We destroyed — that is: a community of people — when they trod the path of opposing Me and transgressing My prohibitions, just as these have trodden it. هَلْ تُحِسُّ مِنْهُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ (Do you perceive a single one of them?): He says: do you still perceive any single one of them, O Muḥammad, so that you see him and behold him? أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزًا (Or do you hear from them a whisper?): He says: or do you hear from them a sound? No, they have perished and passed away; their dwellings stand empty of them, their abodes are deserted by them; they have gone to an abode where nothing avails them except a righteous deed they have sent ahead for themselves. Thus too will these your people end as that people ended, if they do not put repentance into practice before destruction.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes also spoke.
* Mention of who said this:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the words أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزًا : he said: a sound.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the words هَلْ تُحِسُّ مِنْهُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزًا : he said: do you see an eye, or do you hear a sound?
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the words هَلْ تُحِسُّ مِنْهُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزًا : he says: do you hear a sound, or do you see an eye?
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say, concerning the words أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزًا : that is: a sound.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the rikz (ركز) of people are their voices. Abū Kurayb said: Sufyān said: هَلْ تُحِسُّ مِنْهُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزًا — he said: or do you hear from them a sound. He said: and al-rikz is the sound.
Abū Jaʿfar says: al-rikz in Arabic is the soft, muffled voice, as the poet said:
"She pricked up her ears at the sound of the people and started up from what lay beyond her reach, while the people were her malady."
(the verse is cited as proof for the meaning of a whisper and a muffled voice)
