Tafseer of Muhammad · Muhammad · 47:10
Have they not traveled through the land and seen how was the end of those before them? Allah destroyed [everything] over them, and for the disbelievers is something comparable.
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 saying of the Exalted: أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الأَرْضِ فَيَنْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ دَمَّرَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ أَمْثَالُهَا (47:10) (Have they then not travelled through the earth to see how was the end of those who were before them? Allah destroyed them, and for the unbelievers there is the like thereof.)
The Exalted, whose renown be mentioned, says: Have then these deniers of Muḥammad ﷺ — those who deny what We sent down to him of the Book — not travelled through the earth on their journeys? This is but a rebuke from Allah to them, for they travelled to Shām and thereupon saw the vengeance of Allah which He caused to descend upon the inhabitants of al-Ḥijr, the people of Thamūd, and they saw on their journey to Yemen what Allah caused to descend upon Sabaʾ. So He said to His Prophet, upon him be blessing and peace, and to those who believed in him: Have these polytheists (mushrikīn) not travelled on their journeys through the lands and seen how was the end of the denial of those who were before them — the communities that denied their messengers and rejected their good counsel? Did We not destroy them, and lay waste and ruin their dwellings down upon them? So that they might take admonition thereby and fear that Allah would do the same with them on account of their denial of Him, and turn to obedience to Allah by holding you to be truthful. Then He threatened them, praised be His praise, and informed them that, if they were to persist in their denial of His messenger, He would cause to descend upon them of chastisement what He had caused to descend upon those who were before them among the communities. So He said: وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ أَمْثَالُهَا (and for the unbelievers there is the like thereof.) He says: And for the unbelievers (kāfir) of the Quraysh, who deny the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, there is, of immediate chastisement, the like of the end of the denial by the communities that were before them — those who denied their messengers — on account of their denial of His messenger Muḥammad ﷺ.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
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 of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ أَمْثَالُهَا (and for the unbelievers there is the like thereof): He said: The like of that with which the former generations were destroyed is a threat from Allah to them.
