يُونُس : ١٩

  • وَمَا And not
  • كَانَ was
  • ٱلنَّاسُ the mankind
  • إِلَّآ but
  • أُمَّةٗ a community
  • وَٰحِدَةٗ one
  • فَٱخۡتَلَفُواْۚ then they differed
  • وَلَوۡلَا And had (it) not been
  • كَلِمَةٞ a word
  • سَبَقَتۡ (that) preceded
  • مِن from
  • رَّبِّكَ your Lord
  • لَقُضِيَ surely, it (would) have been judged
  • بَيۡنَهُمۡ between them
  • فِيمَا concerning what
  • فِيهِ [therein]
  • يَخۡتَلِفُونَ they differ
And mankind was not but one community [united in religion], but [then] they differed. And if not for a word1 that preceded from your Lord, it would have been judged between them [immediately] concerning that over which they differ.
Footnotes
1 Allāh's decree to allow time on earth for His creation or not to punish anyone before evidence has come to him.
Mankind was but one community, following one religion, that is submission [to the One God], from the time of Adam to the time of Noah; but it is also said [that this was the case] from the time of Abraham to that of 'Amr ibn Luhayy; then they differed, some of them remaining firmly [upon belief in One God], while others disbelieved. And had it not been for a word that had already preceded from your Lord, [to the effect] that requital would be deferred until the Day of Resurrection, it would have been decided between them, that is, [between] mankind, in this life, regarding that over which they differed, in religion, by the disbelievers being punished.