Tafseer of The Stories · Al-Qasas · 28:58
And how many a city have We destroyed that was insolent in its [way of] living, and those are their dwellings which have not been inhabited after them except briefly. And it is We who were the inheritors.
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 statement concerning the explanation of His saying, the Exalted: وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ بَطِرَتْ مَعِيشَتَهَا فَتِلْكَ مَسَاكِنُهُمْ لَمْ تُسْكَنْ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ إِلا قَلِيلا وَكُنَّا نَحْنُ الْوَارِثِينَ (28:58)
(And how many a town have We destroyed which was thankless for its means of livelihood! And those are their dwellings which have not been inhabited after them except a little. And it is We who were the inheritors.)
The Exalted, whose praise is sublime, says: وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ (And how many a town have We destroyed) — one which its means of livelihood made insolent مَعِيشَتَهَا (its means of livelihood), so that it became insolent, became drunk with abundance, and transgressed all its bounds, and thereby denied its Lord.
It is said: "its means of livelihood made it insolent (baṭirat maʿīshatahā)," whereby the act is ascribed to the town, while in origin it belongs to the means of livelihood, just as one says: "your opinion made you foolish, so you became foolish (asfahaka raʾyuka fa-safihtahu)," and "your wealth made you insolent, so you became insolent (abṭaraka māluka fa-baṭirtahu)." The word "means of livelihood (al-maʿīsha)" stands in the accusative as a specifying clause (tamyīz).
We have already expounded the like of this in more than one place in this book of ours.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ بَطِرَتْ مَعِيشَتَهَا (And how many a town have We destroyed which was thankless for its means of livelihood): he said: insolence (al-baṭar) is the drunkenness with abundance of the people of heedlessness, the people of falsehood, and the plunging into acts of disobedience toward Allah. And he said: that is insolence amid blessing. فَتِلْكَ مَسَاكِنُهُمْ لَمْ تُسْكَنْ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ إِلا قَلِيلا (And those are their dwellings which have not been inhabited after them except a little): he says: those then are the houses of the people whom We destroyed because of their disbelief in their Lord, and their abodes were not inhabited after them except a little. He says: they fell into ruin after them, and only the smallest part of them was inhabited, while the greatest part of them fell into ruin. And the wording of the verse, even though it comes out as though their dwellings have been little inhabited, nevertheless means: those then are their dwellings which have not been inhabited after them except a little of them — just as one says: "I have paid you your due, except a small part of it."
And His saying: وَكُنَّا نَحْنُ الْوَارِثِينَ (And it is We who were the inheritors): he says: and for what We let fall into ruin of their dwellings there was no inheritance from them, and it reverted to as it had been before their inhabiting it, with no owner except Allah, to whom belongs the inheritance of the heavens and the earth.
