Tafsir Ibn Abbas: Saad, Ayah 3
كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن قَرْنٍۢ فَنَادَوا۟ وَّلَاتَ حِينَ مَنَاصٍۢ
How many a generation have We destroyed before them, and they [then] called out; but it was not a time for escape.
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أهلكنا1x
قبلهم1x
قرن1x
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How many — in other words many — a generation a community of past communities We have destroyed before them and they cried out when the chastisement was sent down on them when it was no longer the time for escape that is to say the time was not one for fleeing the suffixed tā’ of wa-lāta is extra; the sentence is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the subject of the verb nādaw ‘they cried out’ in other words they called for help but the situation was such that there could be no escape or deliverance; but still the Meccan disbelievers have not taken heed from their example.
Ibn Abbas Commentary
(How many a generation) past generation (We destroyed before them) before the Quraysh, (and they cried out when it was no longer the time for escape!) the angels cried out to them upon their destruction: this is no context for attacking or fleeing; stop! And they stopped until Allah destroyed all of them. This is because before this, upon fighting an enemy, they used to say: attack all together! (Manas! Manas!). Some would therefore survive and others die. But when they were defeated by the enemy they used to cry: flee! Flee! (Manasa! Manasa!), and so they used to flee all together from the battlefield. These were two different signs whenever they engaged in fighting either to attack or to flee from the enemy. When Allah wished to destroy them, the angels cried out to them: this is no context for attacking or fleeing.