The chair of power is not a throne — it is a trust (amanah). When the trust is betrayed, the chair is taken away. Sometimes gradually. Sometimes in a single night.
Urdu version link at the end.
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Here is Surah Al-Isra (17:58) —:
وَإِن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ إِلَّا نَحْنُ مُهْلِكُوهَا قَبْلَ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ أَوْ مُعَذِّبُوهَا عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا ۚ كَانَ ذَٰلِكَ فِي الْكِتَابِ مَسْطُورًا
Translation (Mawdudi — Tafheem ul-Quran):
“There is not a town but We shall destroy it before the Day of Resurrection or chastise it with a severe chastisement. That is written in the Book (of Allah’s decrees).”
Translation (Saheeh International):
“And there is no city but that We will destroy it before the Day of Resurrection or punish it with a severe punishment. That has ever been in the Book inscribed.”
Brief Tafsir Notes:
∙ “Not a single town” — this is a universal divine decree (Sunnatullah) — every human settlement is subject to Allah’s judgment, either through destruction or severe punishment before Qiyamah.
∙ “Before the Day of Resurrection” — the punishment occurs in this world (دُنْيَا), as a foretaste of the ultimate reckoning.
∙ “Written in the Book” — refers to Lawh al-Mahfuz (اللَّوْحُ الْمَحْفُوظُ), affirming that no divine decree is arbitrary — it is pre-ordained wisdom.
∙ This verse sits within a broader passage about the mutrafīn, rebellion, and civilizational collapse — a direct continuation of the themes in 17:16.
EXAMPLES OF FATES OF TYRANTS
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
This is a profound question rooted in 17:58 — let me lay this out comprehensively across three levels: Quranic, historical, and contemporary.
I. COMPLETE ANNIHILATION — Quranic Examples (إِهْلَاك تَامّ)
These are nations Allah destroyed completely — no remnant of power survived:
1. Qawm Nuh (نوح عليه السلام) — People of Noah
Quran: “And We drowned those who denied Our signs. Indeed, they were a blind people.” (7:64)
∙ Crime: Kufr, arrogance, mockery of the Prophet over 950 years
∙ Punishment: Universal flood — complete civilizational wipe
∙ Lesson: Even 950 years of patience has a final deadline
2. ’Ad — People of Hud (هود عليه السلام)
Quran: “So We sent upon them a screaming wind for seven nights and eight days…” (69:6-7)
∙ Crime: Arrogance, boasting of power — “Who is mightier than us?” (41:15)
∙ Punishment: Wind that left them “like hollow trunks of palm trees” (69:7)
∙ Lesson: Military and physical supremacy means nothing before Allah’s command
3. Thamud — People of Salih (صالح عليه السلام)
Quran: “So the thunderbolt seized them while they looked on.” (51:44)
∙ Crime: Hamstrung the she-camel — crossed the final red line
∙ Punishment: The Sayhah (صَيْحَة) — a single cosmic scream destroyed them all
∙ Lesson: Nations are given signs; when they destroy the sign, they seal their fate
4. Qawm Lut — People of Lot (لوط عليه السلام)
Quran: “And We rained upon them a rain of stones. See how was the end of the criminals.” (7:84)
∙ Crime: Sexual transgression, rejection of moral order
∙ Punishment: Cities physically overturned, rained with stones
∙ Archaeological note: The Dead Sea region — historically associated with this destruction — is the lowest point on earth, as if the land itself was pushed down
5. Qawm Shu’ayb — Madyan (شعيب عليه السلام)
Quran: “So the earthquake seized them, and they became within their dwelling place [corpses] fallen prone.” (7:91)
∙ Crime: Economic fraud, cheating in weights and measures — civilizational corruption
∙ Punishment: Earthquake and the punishment of the day of shadow (26:189)
II. PARTIAL / SEVERE PUNISHMENT — Quranic Examples (عَذَاب شَدِيد)
These civilizations suffered catastrophic collapse without total extinction:
1. Fir’awn (فرعون) — Pharaoh & His Empire
Quran: “So We took him and his soldiers and threw them into the sea. See what was the end of the wrongdoers.” (28:40)
∙ Crime: Declared “I am your highest lord” (79:24) — ultimate tyranny + genocide (killing of infant sons)
∙ Punishment: Drowned in the Red Sea — his body preserved as a sign (10:92)
∙ Partial: Egyptian civilization continued, but Pharaonic power was broken forever
∙ Lesson: The most powerful man on earth drowned in the water he thought he controlled
2. Qarun (قارون) — The Oligarch
Quran: “So We caused the earth to swallow him and his home.” (28:81)
∙ Crime: Arrogance of wealth — “I have been given this wealth only because of my knowledge”
∙ Punishment: Swallowed by the earth — his towers, treasuries, everything gone
∙ Lesson: Wealth without shukr and without justice is a path to destruction
3. Bani Israel — Multiple Cycles
Quran (17:4-7): Two times of fasad predicted — Assyrian/Babylonian destruction (1st) and Roman destruction (2nd)
∙ Crime: Repeated covenant-breaking, killing prophets, transgression
∙ Punishment: First Nebuchadnezzar, then Roman destruction of Jerusalem (70 CE)
∙ Partial: The people survived, but their kingdom and temple were razed
∙ Lesson: Even a chosen people are not immune from Sunnatullah
4. Ashab al-Fil — Army of the Elephant (105:1-5)
∙ Crime: Attempted destruction of the Ka’bah
∙ Punishment: Ababil birds with stones of baked clay — entire army destroyed
∙ Historical: Abraha’s Yemeni-Ethiopian force annihilated (570 CE — Year of the Prophet’s ﷺ birth)
III. HISTORICAL EXAMPLES — Tyrants & Empires Destroyed
⚔️ A. Complete Collapse Empire / Tyrant Peak Power Fate Assyrian Empire Most brutal empire of antiquity Nineveh razed 612 BCE — total collapseBabylonian Empire (Nebuchadnezzar’s line) Destroyed Jerusalem Cyrus conquered Babylon 539 BCE Mongol Empire Conquered half the world Fragmented within 150 years — Battle of Ain Jalut 1260 CE Nazi Germany (Hitler) Controlled Europe Suicide in a bunker 1945 — Reich lasted 12 years of 1,000 claimed MussoliniIl Duce — absolute dictator Executed, hung upside down publicly in Milan Ceaușescu (Romania) Megalomaniac dictator Executed by firing squad on Christmas Day 1989 Muammar Gaddafi “King of Kings of Africa” Dragged from a drainpipe, killed in the street 2011 Saddam Hussein “Mighty Sword of Arabs” Found hiding in a hole — executed 2006
B. Partial — Severe Punishment Without Total Destruction Power Crime Partial Punishment British Empire Colonized 1/4 of earth Lost all colonies within 50 years post-WW2 — reduced to an island Ottoman Empire Abandoned Khilafah responsibilities Dismembered after WW1, Caliphate abolished 1924 Soviet Union Systematic godlessness, oppression Collapsed 1991 without a single bullet fired — from within French Empire Algeria, Indochina, West Africa Expelled from every Muslim land after decades of resistance Imperial Japan Asia-Pacific brutality Two atomic bombs — first nation to suffer nuclear destruction
IV. RECENT & CONTEMPORARY — The Lesson Continues
The Last 30 Years Alone:
Slobodan Milošević — Architect of Balkan genocide → Died in his own prison cell at The Hague (2006), never seeing his verdict
Charles Taylor (Liberia) — Warlord, mass atrocities → 50 years in prison at The Hague
Omar Bashir (Sudan) — Decades of iron rule → Overthrown, imprisoned, awaiting ICC trial
Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) — “Liberator” turned tyrant for 37 years → Stripped of power, died in exile in a Singaporean hospital
Ben Ali (Tunisia), Mubarak (Egypt), Saleh (Yemen) — All fell within weeks of each other in the Arab Spring 2010-11 — a single season swept away decades of tyranny
V. THE QURANIC LESSON FOR TODAY’S POWERS
Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى states with devastating clarity:
أَفَأَمِنَ أَهْلُ الْقُرَىٰ أَن يَأْتِيَهُم بَأْسُنَا بَيَاتًا وَهُمْ نَائِمُونَ
“Did the people of the cities feel secure that Our punishment would not come to them at night while they were asleep?” (7:97)
أَفَأَمِنُوا مَكْرَ اللَّهِ ۚ فَلَا يَأْمَنُ مَكْرَ اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْقَوْمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ
“Did they feel secure from Allah’s planning? None feel secure from Allah’s planning except the losing people.” (7:99)
The Universal Pattern — Sunnatullah in Action:
BLESSING → INGRATITUDE → WARNING (Prophets/Signs)
→ REJECTION → RESPITE (Istidraj) → FINAL DECREE → DESTRUCTION
Every single empire in history has followed this arc. Not one has escaped.
For Today’s World Powers — the Mirror is Clear:
🔲 Military supremacy — ‘Ad said the same🔲 Economic dominance — Qarun said the same🔲 Political control — Fir’awn said the same🔲 Technological arrogance — every advanced civilization before said the same
The chair of power is not a throne — it is a trust (amanah). When the trust is betrayed, the chair is taken away. Sometimes gradually. Sometimes in a single night.
“And those cities — We destroyed them when they wronged, and We made for their destruction an appointed time.” (18:59)
کوئی بھی تہذیب اللہ کے حساب سے مستثنیٰ نہیں
Messages from Quran 