Quran Universe
17:17

وَكَمۡ أَهۡلَكۡنَا مِنَ ٱلۡقُرُونِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ نُوحٖۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِرَبِّكَ بِذُنُوبِ عِبَادِهِۦ خَبِيرَۢا بَصِيرٗا

Wakam ahlakna mina alqurooni min baAAdi noohin wakafa birabbika bithunoobi AAibadihi khabeeran baseeran

And how many have We destroyed from the generations after Noah. And sufficient is your Lord, concerning the sins of His servants, as Acquainted and Seeing.

Word by word
  1. وَكَمۡAnd how many
  2. أَهۡلَكۡنَاWe destroyed
  3. مِنَfrom
  4. ٱلۡقُرُونِthe generations
  5. مِنۢafter
  6. بَعۡدِafter
  7. نُوحٖۗNuh
  8. وَكَفَىٰAnd sufficient
  9. بِرَبِّكَ(is) your Lord
  10. بِذُنُوبِconcerning the sins
  11. عِبَادِهِۦ(of) His servants
  12. خَبِيرَۢاAll-Aware
  13. بَصِيرٗاAll-Seer
Al-Isra · 17:17Makkah

Many generations since Nuh rose and fell.

Your Lord sees every sin clearly

After Nuh
generation after generationrejected their messengers
ended
destroyedhow many
your Lordfully aware, fully seeing
Are we different
we are specialit will not happen to us
same rulesno one is dearer by default

This was a warning to Quraysh, who were rejecting the Prophet ﷺ. Ibn Kathir paraphrases the meaning: you are not dearer to Allah than those nations were. He also notes that Ibn 'Abbas said the ten generations between Adam and Nuh all followed Islam. And nothing people do is hidden from Him.

You read about a company that collapsed, a family that broke apart, a person who lost everything. Part of you thinks, that could never be me. History is not a story about other people. The same Lord who saw them sees your Tuesday afternoon.

Those stories of ruined nations are about people unlike me.

The same rules apply to me, and the same Lord is watching kindly and closely.

Try this

Next time you read bad news about someone's fall, ask what lesson it holds for your own week.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

And how many generations have We destroyed after Nuh! And sufficient is your Lord as All-Knower and Seer of the sins of His servants (17)

A Threat to Quraysh

Warning the disbelievers of the Quraysh for rejecting His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ, Allah says that He destroyed other nations who rejected the Messengers after Nuh. This indicates that during the centuries between Adam and Nuh, humans were following Islam, as Ibn 'Abbas said: "Between Adam and Nuh there were ten generations, during all of which humans were following Islam." The meaning (of the Ayah) is: "You disbelievers are not more dear to Allah than they were, and you have rejected the most noble of the Messengers and the best of creation, so you are more deserving of punishment."

وَكَفَىٰ بِرَبِّكَ بِذُنُوبِ عِبَادِهِ خَبِيرًا بَصِيرًا

(And sufficient is your Lord as All-Knower and Seer of the sins of His servants.) means, He knows everything they do, good and evil, and nothing at all is hidden from Him, may He be glorified and exalted.