Ghafir · Makki · ayah 31 of 85

Ghafir 40:31

مِثْلَ دَأْبِ قَوْمِ نُوحٍ وَعَادٍ وَثَمُودَ وَٱلَّذِينَ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ ۚ وَمَا ٱللَّهُ يُرِيدُ ظُلْمًا لِّلْعِبَادِ

“Like the custom of the people of Noah and of ʿAad and Thamūd and those after them. And Allāh wants no injustice for [His] servants.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Ruin reached those nations along a track they wore themselves, and the Allah who ended them did not even want injustice for His servants.

A reflection

What kind of God drowns a people?

Put the objection at full strength. The Quran tells, without apology, how whole nations were wiped out: Nuh's people by flood, ʿAd by wind, Thamud by a blast. A God who destroys entire peoples looks like collective punishment on a vast scale. Over lunch, a university friend brought up as a Christian says quietly that it was the flood story that ended his faith.

The context comes first, and this ayah supplies it in a single word. Daʾb. It is not a word for a single mistake. One commentary explains it as their persistence in their work of denial, constant and unbroken. Another explains the ayah as their custom of holding on to disbelief until the punishment came.

Then comes the response. These nations were not caught off guard. Messengers were sent to each of them with clear signs. One commentary glosses the end of the ayah: He does not destroy them before the proof has been established against them. The destruction came at the end of a long road they chose, step after step.

And the ayah closes on its own answer. Wa-mā Allāhu yurīdu ẓulman lil-ʿibād: Allah does not want injustice for His servants. Not merely, He does not do it. He does not even will it.

What remains open is the hardest part, and honesty should say so. The sources do not describe, case by case, those within such nations who did not choose. The ayah does not explain every detail. It makes one claim about all of it: whatever happened, nobody was wronged by Him.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.