Surah Muhammad Tafseer

وَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ هِيَ أَشَدُّ قُوَّةً مِّن قَرْيَتِكَ الَّتِي أَخْرَجَتْكَ

And how many a town mightier than your town that has driven you out, (meaning, Makkah).

أَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ فَلَ نَاصِرَ لَهُمْ

We have destroyed, with none to help them!

This is a great threat and severe warning to the people of Makkah because they rejected Allah's Messenger, who was the chief of the Messengers and the last of the Prophets. If Allah had destroyed the previous nations because of their denial of their Messengers, what then would those (people of Makkah) expect that Allah would do to them in the worldly life and the Hereafter And if the torment were to be lifted off some of them in this life by the blessing of the presence of the Messenger, the Prophet of Mercy, the torment will be stored for them in their next life, as Allah says,

يُضَاعَفُ لَهُمُ الْعَذَابُ مَا كَانُواْ يَسْتَطِيعُونَ السَّمْعَ وَمَا كَانُواْ يُبْصِرُونَ

Their torment will be doubled! They could not bear to hear (the preaching), and they used not to see (the truth). (11:20)

Concerning Allah's saying,

مِّن قَرْيَتِكَ الَّتِي أَخْرَجَتْكَ

(than Your town that has driven you out),

This means, `its people who have driven you (Muhammad) out from amongst them (the people of Makkah).'

Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that when Allah's Messenger left Makkah (at the time of Hijrah -- migration), and he reached the cave and hid inside it, he looked back toward Makkah and said,

أَنْتِ أَحَبُّ بِلَدِ اللهِ إِلَى اللهِ وَأَنْتِ أَحَبُّ بِلَدِ اللهِ إِلَيَّ وَلَوْلَا أَنَّ الْمُشْرِكِينَ أَخْرَجُونِي لَمْ أَخْرُجْ مِنْك

You are the most beloved to Allah among Allah's lands, and you are also the most beloved to me among Allah's lands. Were it not that the idolators have driven me out from you, I would never have left you.

Ibn Abbas then said,

"The worst of enemies is he who transgresses against Allah in His own sacred place, who kills a person who is not trying to kill him, or who kills because of Jahiliyyah vengeance. Allah then revealed to His Prophet,

وَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ هِيَ أَشَدُّ قُوَّةً مِّن قَرْيَتِكَ الَّتِي أَخْرَجَتْكَ

أَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ فَلَ نَاصِرَ لَهُمْ

And how many a town mightier than your town that has driven you out have We destroyed, with none to help them!