And if We had destroyed them with a punishment before him, they (20:134)

﴿وَلَوْ أَنَّا أَهْلَكْنَاهُم بِعَذَابٍ مِّن قَبْلِهِ لَقَالُوا رَبَّنَا لَوْلَا أَرْسَلْتَ إِلَيْنَا رَسُولًا فَنَتَّبِعَ آيَاتِكَ مِن قَبْلِ أَن نَّذِلَّ وَنَخْزَىٰ﴾
[ طه: 134]

20:134 And if We had destroyed them with a punishment before him, they would have said, "Our Lord, why did You not send to us a messenger so we could have followed Your verses before we were humiliated and disgraced?"

And if I were to destroy these deniers of the Prophet ( peace be upon him ) by sending punishment on them due to their disbelief and obstinacy, before sending a messenger to them and revealing a book to them, they would say on the Day of Judgment, as an excuse for their disbelief: “O Lord, if only You had sent a messenger to us in the world, so that we could have believed in him and followed the verses that he brought, before disgrace and shame befell us through Your punishment”.

And if We had destroyed them with a torment before this (i.e. Messenger Muhammad SAW and the Quran), they would surely have said: "Our Lord! If only You had sent us a Messenger, we should certainly have followed Your Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), before we were humiliated and disgraced."

phonetic Transliteration

Walaw anna ahlaknahum biAAathabin min qablihi laqaloo rabbana lawla arsalta ilayna rasoolan fanattabiAAa ayatika min qabli an nathilla wanakhza

Abdullah Yusuf Ali - Translation

And if We had inflicted on them a penalty before this, they would have said: "Our Lord! If only Thou hadst sent us a messenger, we should certainly have followed Thy Signs before we were humbled and put to shame."

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And if We had destroyed them with a torment before this, they would surely have said: "Our Lord! If only You had sent us a Messenger we should certainly have followed Your Ayat, before we were humiliated and disgraced."

Page 321 English transliteration