Why were there not, out of the generations that passed away before you, righteous men who would forbid others from causing corruption on the earth? And if such were there, they were only a few whom We had saved from those generations, or else the wrong-doers kept pursuing the ease and comfort which had been conferred upon them, thus losing themselves in sinfulness.
از چه رو در میان اقوامی که پیش از شما بودند خردمندانی نبودند که از فساد در روی زمین نهی کنند، مگر گروهی اندک از کسانی که نجاتشان داده بودیم، و ستم‌پیشگان [مشرک‌] دل در ناز و نعمتی که یافته بودند، بستند، و گنهکار بودند