Quran Universe
15:84

فَمَآ أَغۡنَىٰ عَنۡهُم مَّا كَانُواْ يَكۡسِبُونَ

Fama aghna AAanhum ma kanoo yaksiboona

So nothing availed them [from] what they used to earn.

Word by word
  1. فَمَآAnd not
  2. أَغۡنَىٰavailed
  3. عَنۡهُمthem
  4. مَّاwhat
  5. كَانُواْthey used (to)
  6. يَكۡسِبُونَearn
Al-Hijr · 15:84Makkah

Everything they earned could not help them.

Crops, fruit, and water they would not share

What they had
crops and fruittheir earnings
waterthey would not share
availed
0when the command came
What their wealth bought
protectionwhat they counted on
the reason they fellgreed for the water

Ibn Kathir explains: their crops, fruits, and the water which they did not want to share with the she-camel, so it would not reduce their share, none of it protected them when their Lord's command came. They killed a sign of Allah over a share of water.

You argue with your sibling over who pays more for your mother's care. You refuse to share the parking spot, the inheritance, the credit. What you grip hardest may be what costs you most.

Holding tight to what is mine keeps me safe.

What I refuse to share cannot save me, and may be exactly what brings me down.

Try this

Share something today you would normally keep for yourself: food, time, credit, or money.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 15:80)

And verily, the Dwellers of Al-Hijr denied the Messengers (80)And We gave them Our signs, but they were averse to them (81)And they used to hew out dwellings from the mountains, (feeling) secure (82)But the Sayhah (torment - awful cry) overtook them in the early morning (83)And all that they used to earn availed them not (84)

The Destruction of the Dwellers of Al-Hijr, Who are the People called Thamud

The Dwellers of the Al Hijr were the people of Thamud who rejected their Prophet, Salih. Whoever denies even one Messenger, then he has disbelieved in all of the Messengers, thus they are described as rejecting "the Messengers". Allah tells us that he (Salih) brought them signs to prove that what he was telling them was true, such as the she-camel which Allah created for them out of a solid rock in response to the supplication of Salih. This she-camel was grazing on their lands, and the people and the camel took water on alternate days that were well-known. When they rebelled and killed it, he said to them,

تَمَتَّعُوا فِي دَارِكُمْ ثَلَاثَةَ أَيَّامٍ ۖ ذَٰلِكَ وَعْدٌ غَيْرُ مَكْذُوبٍ

("Enjoy yourselves in your homes for three days. This is a promise which will not be belied.")[11:65] Allah said:

وَأَمَّا ثَمُودُ فَهَدَيْنَاهُمْ فَاسْتَحَبُّوا الْعَمَىٰ عَلَى الْهُدَىٰ

(And as for Thamud, We showed them and made the path of truth clear but they preferred blindness to guidance.)[41:17] Allah tells us that,

وَكَانُوا يَنْحِتُونَ مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا آمِنِينَ

(And they used to hew out dwellings from the mountains, (feeling) secure.) meaning, they were without fear and they had no real need for those houses; it was merely a form of extravagance and work without a purpose. This could be seen from their work in the houses in the Al-Hijr through which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed on his way to Tabuk. He covered his head and urged his camel to go faster, saying to his Companions:

لَا تَدْخُلُوا بُيُوتَ الْقَوْمِ الْمُعَذَّبِينَ إِلَّا أَنْ تَكُونُوا بَاكِينَ، فَإِنَّ لَمْ تَبْكُوا فَتَبَاكُوا خَشْيَةَ أَنْ يُصِيبَكُمْ مَا أَصَابَهُم

(Do not enter the dwellings of those who were punished unless you are weeping, and if you do not weep then make yourself weep out of fear that perhaps what struck them may also strike you.)

فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الصَّيْحَةُ مُصْبِحِينَ

(But the Sayhah (torment - awful cry) overtook them in the early morning.) meaning in the morning of the fourth day.

فَمَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ

(And all that they used to earn availed them not.) meaning all of the benefits that they used to gain from their crops and fruits, and the water which they did not want to share with the she-camel that they killed so that it would not reduce their share of the water - all of that wealth would not protect them or help them when the command of their Lord came to pass.