The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 21
PT. 11 YŪNUS CH. 10 وَلَقَدْ أَهْلَكْنَا الْقُرُونَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَمَّا And We destroyed the. 14 ظَلَمُوا وَجَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَتِ generations before you when they did wrong: and there came to them their Messengers with وَمَا كَانُوْا لِيُؤْمِنُوا كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِى clear Signs, but they would not الْقَوْمَ الْمُجْرِمِينَ believe. Thus do We requite the guilty people. 1289 "6:7; 20:129; 21:12. when the motives themselves become vitiated on account of corrupt living or when it is in our power to rectify our motives but we fail to do so, that we become deserving of punishment. In the law of nature, as against the law of Shari'ah, motives count for nothing, the consequences being invariably determined by the nature of one's actions. He who takes a fatal dose of poison must die, no matter what his motives are and no matter what kind of life he leads. But in the law of Shari'ah due allowance is made for the circumstances in which a certain deed is done and for the motives that prompt it. 1289. Important Words: (the generations) is the plural of which gives a number of meanings: (1) part or division of time; (2) people of one time; (3) a generation coming after another; (4) a people that is destroyed so as to leave no remnant behind it; a century (Aqrab and Lane). Commentary: This verse brings to light some eternal divine truths. One is that it is always a life of wrongdoing i. e. the contravention of the law of nature or 1229 that of Shari'ah that brings about the downfall and destruction of a people. The entire history of the world bears eloquent testimony to this great truth. The other divine law hinted at in this verse is that Divine punishment does not overtake a people unless a Prophet of God first appears among them to warn them of their evil ways and of the Divine punishment that will come upon them, if they do not follow him and give up their wicked practices. Thus it is the mercy of God and not His punishment that is meant to be emphasized in this verse, because we are told that when God sees that a certain people have made themselves deserving of His punishment on account of their evil lives, He, out of His great mercy, sends to them a Prophet so that they may follow him and, by reforming themselves, escape the impending punishment and become heirs to His favours. It is only when they reject the Divine Messenger and instead of mending their ways, begin to persecute him that God sends down punishment on them. Punishments again are of two kinds: (1) those that are the result of contravention of the laws of nature,