5ما تَسبِقُ مِن أُمَّةٍ أَجَلَها وَما يَستَأخِرونَMuhammad Asad[but remember that] no community can ever forestall [the end of] its term - and neither can they delay [it].1I.e., every community - and, in the widest sense of this term, every civilization - has a God-willed, organic span of life resembling in this respect all other living organisms, destined to grow, to reach maturity and ultimately to decay. For the ethical implications of this law of nature and its bearing on the passage that follows, see 7:34 and the corresponding note 25.