Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 38 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:38

وَعَادًا وَثَمُودَا۟ وَأَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلرَّسِّ وَقُرُونًۢا بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ كَثِيرًا

“And [We destroyed] ʿAad and Thamūd and the companions of the well[1025] and many generations between them.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Three peoples are named, a fourth is barely described, and countless generations between them pass without a single name.

A reflection

The generations no one named

The ayah names three peoples, then gives up naming. "And many generations between them." Whole nations, with their kings, markets, weddings and quarrels, pass in four words.

The commentaries explain the silence in different ways. One says these were peoples whom only Allah knows. Another says listing them would go on far too long. A third suggests none of them was as famous, or their story as striking, as the ones named. The Quran itself says elsewhere that some messengers' stories were told and others were not (40:78).

Picture a builder underpinning an old terraced house. Under the Victorian footings he finds older brick, laid by hands nobody remembers. Below that is a cobbled floor, and below that a dark line of ash. Each layer was somebody's home and somebody's whole life. None of them left a name the builder could read.

Most of humanity lives in that line of ash. Almost every person who has ever lived is now unnamed to the rest of us. That includes most of the ones who were proud, powerful or certain they would be remembered.

This can feel bleak. The Quran turns it into relief. Being forgotten by history is not the same as being forgotten by Allah. Not a single one of those "many generations" is lost to Him. Every deed in them was recorded and every soul in them will stand.

So the ayah frees you from one heavy task: trying to make your name last. Your name will almost certainly fade. What you sent ahead will not. If you worry about being forgotten, let these four words reassure you. The record that matters is not kept by people.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.