Surah Al-'Aĥqāf (The Wind-Curved Sandhills) in English

1. واذكر أخا عاد إذ أنذر قومه بالأحقاف وقد خلت النذر من بين يديه ومن خلفه ألا تعبدوا إلا الله إني أخاف عليكم عذاب يوم عظيم

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   And mention [Hud] the brother of ‘Ad, when he warned his people at Ahqaf—and warners have passed away before and after him—saying, ‘Do not worship anyone but Allah. Indeed I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day.’

   wa-dhkur ʾakhā ʿādin ʾidh ʾandhara qawmahū bi-l-ʾaḥqāfi wa-qad khalati n-nudhuru min bayni yadayhi wa-min khalfihī ʾallā taʿbudū ʾillā llāha ʾinnī ʾakhāfu ʿalaykum ʿadhāba yawmin ʿaẓīmin

2. قالوا أجئتنا لتأفكنا عن آلهتنا فأتنا بما تعدنا إن كنت من الصادقين

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   They said, ‘Have you come to turn us away from our gods? Then bring us what you threaten us with, if you are truthful.

   qālū ʾa-jiʾtanā li-taʾfikanā ʿan ʾālihatinā fa-ʾtinā bi-mā taʿidunā ʾin kunta mina ṣ-ṣādiqīna

3. قال إنما العلم عند الله وأبلغكم ما أرسلت به ولكني أراكم قوما تجهلون

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   He said, ‘The knowledge [of when that threat will be carried out] is with Allah alone. I communicate to you what I have been sent with. But I see that you are a senseless lot.’

   qāla ʾinnamā l-ʿilmu ʿinda llāhi wa-ʾuballighukum mā ʾursiltu bihī wa-lākinnī ʾarākum qawman tajhalūna

4. فلما رأوه عارضا مستقبل أوديتهم قالوا هذا عارض ممطرنا بل هو ما استعجلتم به ريح فيها عذاب أليم

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   When they saw it as a cloud advancing toward their valleys, they said, ‘This cloud brings us rain.’ ‘No, it is what you sought to hasten: a hurricane carrying a painful punishment,

   fa-lammā raʾawhu ʿāriḍan mustaqbila ʾawdiyatihim qālū hādhā ʿāriḍun mumṭirunā bal huwa mā staʿjaltum bihī rīhun fīhā ʿadhābun ʾalīmun

5. تدمر كل شيء بأمر ربها فأصبحوا لا يرى إلا مساكنهم كذلك نجزي القوم المجرمين

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   destroying everything by its Lord’s command.’ So they became such that nothing could be seen except their dwellings. Thus do We requite the guilty lot.

   tudammiru kulla shayʾin bi-ʾamri rabbihā fa-ʾaṣbaḥū lā yurā ʾillā masākinuhum ka-dhālika najzī l-qawma l-mujrimīna

6. ولقد مكناهم فيما إن مكناكم فيه وجعلنا لهم سمعا وأبصارا وأفئدة فما أغنى عنهم سمعهم ولا أبصارهم ولا أفئدتهم من شيء إذ كانوا يجحدون بآيات الله وحاق بهم ما كانوا به يستهزئون

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   Certainly We had granted them power in respects that We have not granted you, and We had vested them with hearing and sight and hearts. But neither their hearing availed them in any way nor did their sight, nor their hearts when they used to impugn the signs of Allah. So they were besieged by what they used to deride.

   wa-la-qad makkannāhum fī-mā ʾin makkannākum fīhi wa-jaʿalnā lahum samʿan wa-ʾabṣāran wa-ʾafʾidatan fa-mā ʾaghnā ʿanhum samʿuhum wa-lā ʾabṣāruhum wa-lā ʾafʾidatuhum min shayʾin ʾidh kānū yajḥadūna bi-ʾāyāti llāhi wa-ḥāqa bihim mā kānū bihī yastahziʾūna

7. ولقد أهلكنا ما حولكم من القرى وصرفنا الآيات لعلهم يرجعون

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   Certainly We have destroyed the towns that were around you, and We have variously paraphrased the signs so that they may come back.

   wa-la-qad ʾahlaknā mā ḥawlakum mina l-qurā wa-ṣarrafnā l-ʾāyāti laʿallahum yarjiʿūna

8. فلولا نصرهم الذين اتخذوا من دون الله قربانا آلهة بل ضلوا عنهم وذلك إفكهم وما كانوا يفترون

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   So why did not those [fake deities] help them whom they had taken as gods besides Allah, as a means of nearness [to Him]? Indeed, they forsook them; that was their lie and what they used to fabricate.

   fa-law-lā naṣarahumu lladhīna ttakhadhū min dūni llāhi qurbānan ʾālihatan bal ḍallū ʿanhum wa-dhālika ʾifkuhum wa-mā kānū yaftarūna