and against which the circumstances of later nations are measured, as He says:

“There is certainly a lesson in their stories for people of understanding.”

Whoever is a believer is compared with the believers of the past and knows that Allah will grant him happiness in this world and the Hereafter. Whoever is an unbeliever is compared with the unbelievers of the past and knows that Allah will bring him misery in this world and the Hereafter. As He says concerning the latter:

“Are your unbelievers better than those, or have you been granted immunity in the Scriptures?”

He also says:

“Similar ways have passed before you, so travel through the land and see what was the fate of those who denied the truth.”

And He says concerning the believers:

“Allah has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely make them successors in the land, just as He made those before them successors.”

And He says:

“And remember Jonah, the man of the whale, when he went away in anger, thinking that We would not constrain him. Then he called out in the darkness, ‘There is no god but You. Glory be to You! Indeed, I have been among the wrongdoers.’”

“So We answered him and delivered him from distress. And thus do We deliver the believers.”

And He says in the account of Job:

“As a mercy from Us and a reminder for those who worship.”

“As a mercy from Us and a reminder for people of understanding.”

And He says:

“Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, so follow their guidance.”

And He says:

“Or do you think that you will enter Paradise without experiencing the like of what befell those who passed away before you? They were afflicted with poverty and hardship and were so shaken that even the Messenger and those who believed with him said, ‘When will Allah’s help come?’ Indeed, Allah’s help is near.”

And He says:

“And We relate to you accounts of the messengers through which We strengthen your heart.”

Thus, the term “example” means the counterpart against which something is measured and from which lessons are drawn; it is also used to mean