Quran 44:34 · Ad-Dukhan

In every period the root cause of a man’s going astray has been his loss of belief in the life after death. The disbelief of some finds expression in their utterances. Others may not openly express it, but their hearts are devoid of the belief that they have to rise after death and face the reckoning of their deeds before God. The reason for this misunderstanding is generally that man, in view of his strong position in this world, presumes that he is never going to lose his elevated status, though the history of past nations ought to be enough to dispel this illusion. Tubba‘ was the title of the Kings of the ancient Himyar tribe of Yemen. These people enjoyed prominence from 300 B.C. to 115 B.C. and their greatness was much talked about in ancient Arabia. The rise and fall of the Tubba‘ people, a piece of history well-known to the initial addressees of the Quran (the Quraysh), gave proof of the fact that the law of ‘crime and punishment’ was prevalent in this world. Similarly, for every community there is a ‘Tubba‘’ which, by its example, teaches them a lesson. But, man is wont to take such occurrences as being nothing out of the ordinary. The result is that he does not learn those lessons which, by God’s will, are latent in events.