Quran Universe
23:43

مَا تَسۡبِقُ مِنۡ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلَهَا وَمَا يَسۡتَـٔۡخِرُونَ

Ma tasbiqu min ommatin ajalaha wama yastakhiroona

No nation will precede its time [of termination], nor will they remain [thereafter].

Word by word
  1. مَاNot
  2. تَسۡبِقُcan precede
  3. مِنۡany
  4. أُمَّةٍnation
  5. أَجَلَهَاits term
  6. وَمَاand not
  7. يَسۡتَـٔۡخِرُونَthey (can) delay (it)
Al-Mu'minun · 23:43Makkah

No nation can rush its end or delay it.

Every term is written

The term
a nation
has
a set timewritten before it existed
not
earlier or later
Who controls the clock
we decide how long
it is decreedin His Book

Ibn Kathir says they are taken at the time decreed by Allah in His Book, before they were created, nation after nation, century after century. No one can push the date forward or back.

You plan the five-year career, the mortgage term, the retirement age. Your own term is written too, and you cannot see the date. Plans are fine. Assuming time is not.

I can count on having the time I have planned for.

My time is set by Allah, so I use what I have well.

Try this

Do one thing today that you have been saving for when you have more time.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 23:42)

Then, after them, We created other generations (42)No nation can advance their term, nor can they delay it (43)Then We sent Our Messengers in succession. Every time there came to a nation their Messenger, they denied him; so, We made them follow one another, and We made them as Ahadith. So, away with a people who believe not (44)

Mention of Other Nations

Allah says:

ثُمَّ أَنْشَأْنَا مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ قُرُونًا آخَرِينَ 

(Then, after them, We created other generations.) meaning, nations and peoples.

مَا تَسْبِقُ مِنْ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلَهَا وَمَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ 

(No nation can advance their term, nor can they delay it.) means, they are taken at the appropriate time, as decreed by Allah in His Book that is preserved with Him, before they were created, nation after nation, century after century, generation after generation, successors after predecessors.

ثُمَّ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلَنَا تَتْرَا

(Then We sent Our Messengers in succession.) Ibn 'Abbas said, "(This means) following one another in succession." This is like the Ayah:

وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِي كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولًا أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُوا الطَّاغُوتَ ۖ فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ هَدَى اللَّهُ وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِ الضَّلَالَةُ

(And verily, We have sent among every Ummah a Messenger (proclaiming): "Worship Allah, and avoid Taghut (all false deities)." Then of them were some whom Allah guided and of them were some upon whom the straying was justified)(16:36).

كُلَّ مَا جَاءَ أُمَّةً رَّسُولُهَا كَذَّبُوهُ

(Every time there came to a nation their Messenger, they denied him;) meaning the greater majority of them. This is like the Ayah:

يَا حَسْرَةً عَلَى الْعِبَادِ ۚ مَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ

(Alas for mankind! There never came a Messenger to them but they used to mock at him.)(36:30)

فَأَتْبَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ بَعْضًا

(so We made them follow one another,) means, 'We destroyed them,' as Allah says:

وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِنَ الْقُرُونِ مِنْ بَعْدِ نُوحٍ

(And how many generations have We destroyed after Nuh!)(17:17)

 وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَحَادِيثَ

(and We made them as Ahadith) meaning, stories and lessons for mankind, as Allah says elsewhere:

فَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَحَادِيثَ وَمَزَّقْنَاهُمْ كُلَّ مُمَزَّقٍ

(so, We made them as tales (in the land), and We dispersed them all totally)(34:19).