Surah Al-'An`ām (The Cattle) in English

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

1. الحمد لله الذي خلق السماوات والأرض وجعل الظلمات والنور ثم الذين كفروا بربهم يعدلون

   1

   All praise belongs to Allah who created the heavens and the earth and made the darkness and the light. Yet the faithless equate [others] with their Lord.

   al-ḥamdu li-llāhi lladhī khalaqa s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍa wa-jaʿala ẓ-ẓulumāti wa-n-nūra thumma lladhīna kafarū bi-rabbihim yaʿdilūna

2. هو الذي خلقكم من طين ثم قضى أجلا وأجل مسمى عنده ثم أنتم تمترون

   2

   It is He who created you from clay, then ordained the term [of your life]—the specified term is with Him—and yet you are in doubt.

   huwa lladhī khalaqakum min ṭīnin thumma qaḍā ʾajalan wa-ʾajalun musamman ʿindahū thumma ʾantum tamtarūna

3. وهو الله في السماوات وفي الأرض يعلم سركم وجهركم ويعلم ما تكسبون

   3

   He is Allah in the heavens and on the earth: He knows your secret and your overt [matters], and He knows what you earn.

   wa-huwa llāhu fī s-samāwāti wa-fī l-ʾarḍi yaʿlamu sirrakum wa-jahrakum wa-yaʿlamu mā taksibūna

4. وما تأتيهم من آية من آيات ربهم إلا كانوا عنها معرضين

   4

   There did not come to them any sign from among the signs of their Lord, but that they used to disregard it.

   wa-mā taʾtīhim min ʾāyatin min ʾāyāti rabbihim ʾillā kānū ʿanhā muʿriḍīna

5. فقد كذبوا بالحق لما جاءهم فسوف يأتيهم أنباء ما كانوا به يستهزئون

   5

   They have certainly denied the truth when it came to them, but soon there will come to them the news of what they have been deriding.

   fa-qad kadhdhabū bi-l-ḥaqqi lammā jāʾahum fa-sawfa yaʾtīhim ʾanbāʾu mā kānū bihī yastahziʾūna

6. ألم يروا كم أهلكنا من قبلهم من قرن مكناهم في الأرض ما لم نمكن لكم وأرسلنا السماء عليهم مدرارا وجعلنا الأنهار تجري من تحتهم فأهلكناهم بذنوبهم وأنشأنا من بعدهم قرنا آخرين

   6

   Have they not regarded how many a generation We have destroyed before them whom We had granted power in the land in respects that We did not grant you, and We sent abundant rains for them from the sky and made streams run for them? Then We destroyed them for their sins, and brought forth another generation after them.

   ʾa-lam yaraw kam ʾahlaknā min qablihim min qarnin makkannāhum fī l-ʾarḍi mā lam numakkin lakum wa-ʾarsalnā s-samāʾa ʿalayhim midrāran wa-jaʿalnā l-ʾanhāra tajrī min taḥtihim fa-ʾahlaknāhum bi-dhunūbihim wa-ʾanshaʾnā min baʿdihim qarnan ʾākharīna

7. ولو نزلنا عليك كتابا في قرطاس فلمسوه بأيديهم لقال الذين كفروا إن هذا إلا سحر مبين

   7

   Had We sent down to you a Book on paper so they could touch it with their [own] hands, [still] the faithless would have said, ‘This is nothing but plain magic.’

   wa-law nazzalnā ʿalayka kitāban fī qirṭāsin fa-lamasūhu bi-ʾaydīhim la-qāla lladhīna kafarū ʾin hādhā ʾillā siḥrun mubīnun

8. وقالوا لولا أنزل عليه ملك ولو أنزلنا ملكا لقضي الأمر ثم لا ينظرون

   8

   They say, ‘Why has not an angel been sent down to him?’ Were We to send down an angel, the matter would surely be decided, and then they would not be granted any respite.

   wa-qālū law-lā ʾunzila ʿalayhi malakun wa-law ʾanzalnā malakan la-quḍiya l-ʾamru thumma lā yunẓarūna