Surah Maryam (Mary) 19 : 98

Explanatory Note

The sūrah concludes with a scene that we contemplate in our minds for a long time, hardly able to shift our gaze:

How many a generation have We destroyed before their time! Can you find a single one of them now, or hear so much as a whisper of them? (Verse 98)

This scene begins with a violent shock before overwhelming us with a total and deep silence. It is as though it takes us to the valley of death to show us how earlier people met their fate. In that great valley which stretches much further than the eyes can see, our minds imagine the life that used to prosper on earth, the people that moved about everywhere, their feelings, hopes and aspirations. But all that is gone.

Complete silence pervades. For death has overtaken all, leaving only a host of rotting cadavers. Not a single one stirs, not a single sound, not even a breath. “Can you find a single one of them now?” (Verse 98) Look around and see. “Or can you hear so much as a whisper of them?” (Verse 98) Listen as much as you wish. There is nothing but a deadly silence. None remain except the One who never dies. Eternal He is and limitless in His glory.