87 Preface وَلَقَد آتَيناكَ سَبعًا مِنَ المَثاني وَالقُرآنَ العَظيمَAhmed AliWe have indeed given you the seven oft-repeated (examples)1, and the majestic Qur’an. The (seven) examples from history of the people of Noah, ‘Ad, Thamud, Abraham, Lot, Midian and Pharaoh, which are repeated four times all together in the Qur’an and many times in twos, threes and fours or singly. Saba‘a means to make a number up to seven, and mathani means ‘oft-repeated.’ See Surah 20 (The Poets) and 29 (The Spider) which deal with all the seven. The verse states that God has given us the Qur’an which contains the basic laws that govern the cause of the rise and fall of nations as well as historical proofs that appear from time to time.