﴿ وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْنٍ هَلْ تُحِسُّ مِنْهُم مِّنْ أَحَدٍ أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزًۢا ﴾

“for, how many a generation have We destroyed before their time - [and] canst thou perceive any one of them [now], or hear any whisper of them?”

(And how many a generation) many a bygone nation (before them) before your own people, O Muhammad, (have We destroyed! Canst thou (Muhammad) see a single man of them) after having destroyed them, (or hear from them the slightest sound) after being annihilated and turned into ruins?'