"قَدْخَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ سُنَنٌ فَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ...
"قَدْخَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ سُنَنٌ فَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانْظُرواكَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ" "Indeed there have been examples before you; therefore, travel in the earth and see what was the end of the rejecters." [^1] "أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ كَانُوا أَكْثَرَ مِنْهُمْ وَأَشَدَّ قُوَّةً وَآثَارًا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَمَا أَغْنَى عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ" "Have they not then journeyed in the land and seen how was the end of those before them?
They were more in numbers than these and greater in strength and in fortifications in the land, but what they earned did not avail them." [^2] "كَمْ تَرَكُوا مِنْ جَنَّاتٍ وَعُيُونٍ وَزُرُوعٍ وَمَقَامٍ كَرِيمٍ وَنَعْمَةٍ كَانُوا فِيهَا فَاكِهِينَ كَذَلِكَ وَأَوْرَثْنَاهَا قَوْمًا آخَرِينَ فَمَا بَكَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ السَّمَاءُ وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَا كَانُوا مُنظَرِينَ" “How many of the gardens and fountains have they left! And cornfields and noble places!
And goodly things wherein they rejoiced; thus it was, and we gave them as a heritage to another people. So the heaven and the earth did not weep for them, nor were they respited”. [^3] It is because of this educational principle that Imam ‘Ali (as) in different points of Nahj al-Balaghah and even in the present paper attracts our attention to the destiny and fate of the ancient peoples and nations and the factors which had led to their improvements or failures.
He drew our attention to how these people left every thing and left this land.
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