24إِنّا أَرسَلناكَ بِالحَقِّ بَشيرًا وَنَذيرًا ۚ وَإِن مِن أُمَّةٍ إِلّا خَلا فيها نَذيرٌMuhammad AsadVerily, We have sent thee with the truth, as a bearer, of glad tidings and a warner: for there never was any community but a warner has [lived and] passed away in its midst.1One of the meanings of the term ummah (preferred by Zamakhshari in his commentary on the above verse) is "people of one time" or "age"; another, "people of one kind", i.e., "a nation" or "a community" (which is adopted by me in this context). Taking into consideration a third, well-established meaning, namely, "a [particular] way of life" or 'of behaviour" (Jawhari), the term "community" comes, in this instance, close to the modern concept of "civilization" in its historical sense. - The stress on the warners' (i.e., prophets) having "passed away" is meant to emphasize the humanness and mortality of each and all of them.