The Destroyed Generations  part 2‏

Shu'aib (Alaihissalaam)

7:85 To the Madyan people We sent Shu'aib, one of their own brethren: he said: "O my people! worship Allah. Ye have no other god but Him. Now hath come unto you a clear (Sign) from your Lord! Give just measure and weight, nor withhold from the people the things that are their due; and do no mischief on the earth after it has been set in order: that will be best for you, if ye have Faith.

7:86 "And squat not on every road, breathing threats, hindering from the path of Allah those who believe in Him, and seeking in it something crooked; But remember how ye were little, and He gave you increase. And hold in your mind's eye what was the end of those who did mischief.

7:87 "And if there is a party among you who believes in the message with which I have been sent, and a party which does not believe, hold yourselves in patience until Allah doth decide between us: for He is the best to decide.

7:88 The leaders, the arrogant party among his people, said: "O Shu'aib! we shall certainly drive thee out of our city - (thee) and those who believe with thee; or else ye (thou and they) shall have to return to our ways and religion." He said: "What! even though we do detest (them)?

7:89 "We should indeed invent a lie against Allah, if we returned to your ways after Allah hath rescued us therefrom; nor could we by any manner of means return thereto unless it be as in the will and plan of Allah, Our Lord. Our Lord can reach out to the utmost recesses of things by His knowledge. In the Allah is our trust. our Lord! decide Thou between us and our people in truth, for Thou art the best to decide."

7:90 The leaders, the unbelievers among his people, said: "If ye follow Shu'aib, be sure then ye are ruined!"

7:91 But the earthquake took them unawares, and they lay prostrate in their homes before the morning!

7:92 The men who reject Shu'aib became as if they had never been in the homes where they had flourished: the men who rejected Shu'aib - it was they who were ruined!

7:93 So Shu'aib left them, saying: "O my people! I did indeed convey to you the messages for which I was sent by my Lord: I gave you good counsel, but how shall I lament over a people who refuse to believe!"

Moses (Alaihissalaam)

7:103 Then after them We sent Moses with Our signs to Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they wrongfully rejected them: So see what was the end of those who made mischief.

7:104 Moses said: "O Pharaoh! I am an apostle from the Lord of the worlds,-

7:105 One for whom it is right to say nothing but truth about Allah. Now have I come unto you (people), from your Lord, with a clear (Sign): So let the Children of Israel depart along with me."

7:132 They said (to Moses): "Whatever be the Signs thou bringest, to work therewith thy sorcery on us, we shall never believe in thee.

7:133 So We sent (plagues) on them: Wholesale death, Locusts, Lice, Frogs, And Blood: Signs openly self-explained: but they were steeped in arrogance,- a people given to sin.

7:134 Every time the penalty fell on them, they said: "O Moses! on your behalf call on thy Lord in virtue of his promise to thee: If thou wilt remove the penalty from us, we shall truly believe in thee, and we shall send away the Children of Israel with thee."

7:135 But every time We removed the penalty from them according to a fixed term which they had to fulfill,- Behold! they broke their word!

7:136 So We exacted retribution from them: We drowned them in the sea, because they rejected Our Signs and failed to take warning from them.

History shows us that Allah has punished people severely by drowning them on the sea, by earthquakes, by flood, a shower of brimstones, by suffering, adversity and plagues like: wholesale death, locusts, lice, frogs and blood.

To every people there is a term appointed, and when the term has been appointed it cannot be delayed by even an hour. Respite itself can be a mercy if used in Allah's way but for the unbelievers the respite can be granted in order to make the sinners grow in their iniquities to make them deserve their upcoming punishment. Allah's scheme is strong (7:183). A sinner or a believer will never be dealt unjustly in the very last.

Allah gave the rebellious many opportunities but they continued rejecting Him until it was too late and a calamity came on them. We are coming closer and closer to the time of reckoning. Our lesson is to learn from the past before there will come a time when we will regret. Surat Al-A'raf ends with encouraging verses that tells us to read the Quran and accept Allah's guidance - if not we will be punished in ways we can’t even imagine.

7:204 When the Qur'an is read, listen to it with attention, and hold your peace: that ye may receive Mercy.

7:205 And do thou (O reader!) Bring thy Lord to remembrance in thy (very) soul, with humility and in reverence, without loudness in words, in the mornings and evenings; and be not thou of those who are un heedful.

7:206 Those who are near to thy Lord, disdain not to do Him worship: They celebrate His praises, and bow down before Him.

The time has arrived for the believers to put their hearts in humility and to engage in the remembrance of Allah and of the truth that has been revealed. We should not become like those of the old whose hearts grew hard (57:16). We are created to obey Allah and we all have a personal responsibility of not to listen to the evil whispers of Iblis. Our present generation is critical because Muhammad (saw) was the last in the range of the messengers. There will come no more Prophets of Allah in the future. The present generation is critical because when it will be destroyed, no new generation will be established after us. There will be given no more respite to any new people. The only thing after this will be The Akhirah - The Day of Judgment.

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Source: The Glorious Quran - translated by Yusuf Ali.