Quran Universe
15:5

مَّا تَسۡبِقُ مِنۡ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلَهَا وَمَا يَسۡتَـٔۡخِرُونَ

Ma tasbiqu min ommatin ajalaha wama yastakhiroona

No nation will precede its term, nor will they remain thereafter.

Word by word
  1. مَّاNot
  2. تَسۡبِقُ(can) advance
  3. مِنۡany
  4. أُمَّةٍnation
  5. أَجَلَهَاits term
  6. وَمَاand not
  7. يَسۡتَـٔۡخِرُونَ(can) delay it
Al-Hijr · 15:5Makkah

No nation moves its deadline, early or late.

The term is fixed

A nation's term
earliercannot advance it
the termset by Allah
latercannot delay it
What I control
the timingnot mine
what I do before itfully mine

Right after saying every town has a known decree, the verse adds that no nation can bring its term forward or push it back. Ibn Kathir reads it as a plain warning to Makkah: the time is set, so change now.

The hospital corridor, waiting for news you cannot speed up. Or a deadline at work you wish would move. Some times are simply not in your hands. What you do before them is.

If I worry enough, I can somehow control how long things last.

The time is Allah's; the deeds inside it are mine.

Try this

Let go of one worry about timing today and spend that energy on one good deed.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 15:4)

And never did We destroy a township but there was a known decree for it (4)No nation can advance its term, nor delay it (5)

Every Township has its allotted Time

Allah is informing us that He never destroys a township until He has established evidences for it and its allotted time has ended. When the time for a nation's destruction has come, He never delays it, and He never moves its appointed time forward. This was a message and a warning to the people of Makkah, telling them to give up their Shirk, their stubbornness and disbelief for which they deserved to be destroyed.