وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْنٍ هُمْ أَحْسَنُ أَثَٰثًۭا وَرِءْيًۭا
Wa kam ahlaknaa qablahum min qarnin hum ahsanu asaasanw wa ri'yaa
And how many a generation have We destroyed before them who were better in possessions and [outward] appearance?
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19:74Ayah 198
28 ayahs in Maryam are strongly about lessons from past peoples. This is one of them.
Tafsir
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And how many — in other words many — a generation that is a community from among the communities of the past have We destroyed before them who were superior in their possession of gear in wealth and chattel and in appearance superior as a sight ri’yan derives from the infinitive al-ru’ya. Thus in the same way that We destroyed those ones because of their disbelief We will destroy these ones also.
Related Hadiths
The best among people are of my generation, then those next to them. (The narrator said): I do not know whether (he said) it three times or four times. Then there would fellow after them such persons whose evidence would precede the oath, and in case of some others, the oath (would precede) the evidence.
The best generation of this Umma is the generation to which I have been sent, then the next one, and there is an addition in the hadith transmitted on the authority of Abu 'Awana (and the words are): And Allah knows best whether he made a mention of the third (generation) or not; the rest of the hadith is the same as transmitted by Zahdam on the authority of 'Imran. And in the hadith transmitted by Hisham on the authority of Qatada there is an addition of these words: They take an oath whereas they are not asked to take.
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