For Every Nation Is an Appointed Time — When It Comes They Cannot Delay an Hour
tadabbur
Level: intermediate
akhirah
td-221
وَلِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلٌ فَإِذَا جَآءَ أَجَلُهُمۡ
— الأعراف 34
Verse: "For every nation is an appointed time — when their time comes they cannot delay an hour nor advance." (7:34) — Nations like individuals have a set term. Great empires collapsed, civilizations vanished. Lesson: the nation that thinks it will never decline — in that very heedlessness the decline began.
Source: Ibn Kathir (3/395); Al-Sadi
Question: What cosmic law about nations does the verse state?
Answer: Every nation has a fixed appointed time — when it arrives no delay and no advancement. A universal law with no exception, warning every nation.