Sūrat Hūd
Section 23 of 24 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Why No One Stopped Them
Then in verse 116 is the matter, again, of nahy ʿan al-munkar: stopping people from doing wrong. Stopping people from doing wrong.
فَلَوْلَا كَانَ مِنَ ٱلْقُرُونِ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ أُو۟لُوا۟ بَقِيَّةٍ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ ٱلْفَسَادِ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِّمَّنْ أَنجَيْنَا مِنْهُمْ ۗ وَٱتَّبَعَ ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ مَآ أُتْرِفُوا۟ فِيهِ وَكَانُوا۟ مُجْرِمِينَ
“Then, why is it that there were no people, among the generations before you, who would have enough remnants of wisdom to stop others from creating disorder in the land, except a few among them whom We saved (from Our punishment)? And the wrongdoers pursued the luxuries they were involved in, and they became sinners.” (11:116)
And one of the reflections — and these are all reflections at the end of the sūrah, after all those stories of the five or six prophets — is that Allah then says of those peoples of the past: could there not have been among them a small number who would have stopped people from the corruption in the earth? There were not many; and that is why so much of this punishment came. For had there been, they would not have grown so bad. It is when a man joins the bandwagon with everyone else. May Allah not let us be guilty of that crime.
That is why Allah says wa mā kāna rabbuka li-yuhlika al-qurā:
وَمَا كَانَ رَبُّكَ لِيُهْلِكَ ٱلْقُرَىٰ بِظُلْمٍ وَأَهْلُهَا مُصْلِحُونَ
“Your Lord is not such that He would destroy the towns unjustly while their people are good in their ways.” (11:117)
This is something to write down and remember: verse 117. Allah is not one to destroy a region for an oppression so long as its people are trying to reform. That is why we must strive to be constantly of those who try to reform themselves and others; and in shāʾ Allāh that will keep the punishment away, even though there are evil people about. Put this verse down in your notebooks: 117. It is of the first importance.