Sam Gerrans - The Qur'an: A Complete Revelation

And never would thy Lord destroy the cities in injustice, when their people were those who do right.

وَمَا كَانَ رَبُّكَ لِيُهْلِكَ الْقُرٰى بِظُلْمٍ وَاَهْلُهَا مُصْلِحُونَ
Wama kana rabbuka liyuhlikaalqura bithulmin waahluha muslihoon
#wordmeaningroot
1wamāAnd not
2kānawouldكون
3rabbukayour Lordربب
4liyuh'likadestroyهلك
5l-qurāthe citiesقري
6biẓul'minunjustlyظلم
7wa-ahluhāwhile its peopleاهل
8muṣ'liḥūna(were) reformersصلح
  • Aisha Bewley

    Your Lord would never have destroyed the cities wrongfully as long as their inhabitants were putting things right.

  • Progressive Muslims

    And your Lord would not destroy the towns wrongfully, while its people were good doers.

  • Shabbir Ahmed

    For, your Lord would never annihilate a community for wrong beliefs alone as long as its people behave righteously towards one another. (The Qur'an is consistent in its theme that people will be rewarded according to what they do YA'AMALOON, and not what they know YA'ALAMOON. The reason that the Book stresses so much on the right belief system, is that humans are strongly influenced in their behavior by what they think and believe).

  • Sam Gerrans The Qur'an: A Complete Revelation

    And never would thy Lord destroy the cities in injustice, when their people were those who do right.

  • The Monotheist Group The Quran: A Monotheist Translation

    And your Lord will not destroy the towns unjustly, while its people are good doers.

  • Edip-Layth Quran: A Reformist Translation

    Your Lord would not destroy the towns wrongfully, while its people were good doers.

  • Rashad Khalifa The Final Testament

    Your Lord never annihilates any community unjustly, while its people are righteous.

  • Mohamed Ahmed - Samira

    Your Lord would not surely destroy unjustly human habitations so long as the people are righteous.

  • Sahih International (Umm Muhammad, Mary Kennedy, Amatullah Bantley)

    And your Lord would not have destroyed the cities unjustly while their people were reformers.

  • Muhammad Asad

    For, never would thy Sustainer destroy a community for wrong so long as its people behave righteously .

  • Marmaduke Pickthall

    In truth thy Lord destroyed not the townships tyrannously while their folk were doing right.

  • Abul A'la Maududi Tafhim commentary

    And your Lord is not such as would wrongfully destroy human habitations while their inhabitants are righteous.

  • Abdel Khalek Himmat Al- Muntakhab

    Nor would Allah, your Creator, unjustly destroy the towns when their inhabitants are brewing reform and the fundamental truth governs their thoughts.

  • Bijan Moeinian

    Your Lord is not such a One as to unjustly destroy any community while their citizens are righteous.

  • Al-Hilali & Khan

    And your Lord would never destroy the towns wrongfully, while their people were right-doers.

  • Abdullah Yusuf Ali

    Nor would thy Lord be the One to destroy communities for a single wrong-doing, if its members were likely to mend.

  • Mustafa Khattab The Clear Quran

    And your Lord ˹O Prophet˺ would never destroy a society unjustly while its people were acting rightly.

  • Taqi Usmani

    Your Lord is not such that He would destroy the towns unjustly while their people are good in their ways.

  • Abdul Haleem

    Your Lord would not destroy any town without cause if its people were acting righteously.

  • Arthur John Arberry

    Yet thy Lord would never destroy the cities unjustly, while as yet their people were putting things right.

  • E. Henry Palmer

    Thy Lord would not have destroyed the cities unjustly while the people of them were well doers.

  • Hamid S. Aziz

    If only there had been, among the generations before you, men endowed with a remnant of virtue (balance, sobriety, righteousness, good sense) forbidding (warning, preventing) men from corruption in the earth, as did the few whom We saved from them. But the evildoers followed that by which they made (or were made) sapless (they enjoyed, drained and became drained), and were guilty.

  • Mahmoud Ghali

    And in no way would your Lord indeed cause towns to perish with injustice (while) their population are righteous-doers.

  • George Sale

    And thy Lord was not of such a disposition as to destroy the cities unjustly, while their inhabitants behaved themselves uprightly.

  • Syed Vickar Ahamed

    And your Lord would not be the One to destroy towns for a single wrong-doing, while the members were likely to become better.

  • Amatul Rahman Omar

    And your Lord is not the One Who would destroy the townships unjustly (simply for their disbelief) while the inhabitants thereof (live in peace and) set things right.

  • Ali Quli Qarai

    Your Lord would never destroy the townships unjustly while their inhabitants were bringing about reform.