Al-Mu'minun 23:42

Then, after them, We created other generations (42)No nation can advance their term, nor can they delay it (43)Then We sent Our Messengers in succession. Every time there came to a nation their Messenger, they denied him; so, We made them follow one another, and We made them as Ahadith. So, away with a people who believe not (44)

Mention of Other Nations

Allah says:

ثُمَّ أَنْشَأْنَا مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ قُرُونًا آخَرِينَ

(Then, after them, We created other generations.) meaning, nations and peoples.

مَا تَسْبِقُ مِنْ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلَهَا وَمَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ

(No nation can advance their term, nor can they delay it.) means, they are taken at the appropriate time, as decreed by Allah in His Book that is preserved with Him, before they were created, nation after nation, century after century, generation after generation, successors after predecessors.

ثُمَّ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلَنَا تَتْرَا

(Then We sent Our Messengers in succession.) Ibn 'Abbas said, "(This means) following one another in succession." This is like the Ayah:

وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِي كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولًا أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُوا الطَّاغُوتَ ۖ فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ هَدَى اللَّهُ وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِ الضَّلَالَةُ

(And verily, We have sent among every Ummah a Messenger (proclaiming): "Worship Allah, and avoid Taghut (all false deities)." Then of them were some whom Allah guided and of them were some upon whom the straying was justified)(16:36).

كُلَّ مَا جَاءَ أُمَّةً رَّسُولُهَا كَذَّبُوهُ

(Every time there came to a nation their Messenger, they denied him;) meaning the greater majority of them. This is like the Ayah:

يَا حَسْرَةً عَلَى الْعِبَادِ ۚ مَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ

(Alas for mankind! There never came a Messenger to them but they used to mock at him.)(36:30)

فَأَتْبَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ بَعْضًا

(so We made them follow one another,) means, 'We destroyed them,' as Allah says:

وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِنَ الْقُرُونِ مِنْ بَعْدِ نُوحٍ

(And how many generations have We destroyed after Nuh!)(17:17)

وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَحَادِيثَ

(and We made them as Ahadith) meaning, stories and lessons for mankind, as Allah says elsewhere:

فَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَحَادِيثَ وَمَزَّقْنَاهُمْ كُلَّ مُمَزَّقٍ

(so, We made them as tales (in the land), and We dispersed them all totally)(34:19).