The Quran

134

وَلَو أَنّا أَهلَكناهُم بِعَذابٍ مِن قَبلِهِ لَقالوا رَبَّنا لَولا أَرسَلتَ إِلَينا رَسولًا فَنَتَّبِعَ آياتِكَ مِن قَبلِ أَن نَذِلَّ وَنَخزىٰ

Muhammad Asad

For [thus it is:] had We destroyed them by means of a chastisement ere this [divine writ was revealed], they would indeed [be justified to] say [on Judgment Day]: "O our Sustainer! If only Thou hadst sent an apostle unto us, we would have followed Thy messages rather than be humiliated and disgraced [in the hereafter]!"¹

Cf. 6:131. 15:4 or 26:208-209, where it is stressed that God never punishes man for any wrong committed in ignorance of what constitutes right and wrong in the moral sense - i.e., before making it possible for him to avail himself of divine guidance.