Surah Al-'A`rāf (The Heights) in English

1. وقطعناهم اثنتي عشرة أسباطا أمما وأوحينا إلى موسى إذ استسقاه قومه أن اضرب بعصاك الحجر فانبجست منه اثنتا عشرة عينا قد علم كل أناس مشربهم وظللنا عليهم الغمام وأنزلنا عليهم المن والسلوى كلوا من طيبات ما رزقناكم وما ظلمونا ولكن كانوا أنفسهم يظلمون

   160

   We split them up into twelve tribal communities, and We revealed to Moses, when his people asked him for water, [saying], ‘Strike the rock with your staff,’ whereat twelve fountains gushed forth from it. Every tribe came to know its drinking-place. And We shaded them with clouds, and We sent down to them manna and quails: ‘Eat of the good things We have provided you.’ And they did not wrong Us, but they used to wrong [only] themselves.

   wa-qaṭṭaʿnāhumu thnatay ʿashrata ʾasbāṭan ʾumaman wa-ʾawḥaynā ʾilā mūsā ʾidhi stasqāhu qawmuhū ʾani ḍrib bi-ʿaṣāka l-ḥajara fa-nbajasat minhu thnatā ʿashrata ʿaynan qad ʿalima kullu ʾunāsin mashrabahum wa-ẓallalnā ʿalayhimu l-ghamāma wa-ʾanzalnā ʿalayhimu l-manna wa-s-salwā kulū min ṭayyibāti mā razaqnākum wa-mā ẓalamūnā wa-lākin kānū ʾanfusahum yaẓlimūna

2. وإذ قيل لهم اسكنوا هذه القرية وكلوا منها حيث شئتم وقولوا حطة وادخلوا الباب سجدا نغفر لكم خطيئاتكم سنزيد المحسنين

   161

   And when they were told, ‘Settle in this town and eat thereof whence you wish; and say, ‘‘Relieve [us of the burden of our sins],’’ and enter prostrating at the gate, that We may forgive your iniquities, and soon We shall enhance the virtuous.’

   wa-ʾidh qīla lahumu skunū hādhihi l-qaryata wa-kulū minhā ḥaythu shiʾtum wa-qūlū ḥiṭṭatun wa-dkhulū l-bāba sujjadan naghfir lakum khaṭīʾātikum sa-nazīdu l-muḥsinīna

3. فبدل الذين ظلموا منهم قولا غير الذي قيل لهم فأرسلنا عليهم رجزا من السماء بما كانوا يظلمون

   162

   But the wrongdoers changed the saying with other than what they had been told. So We sent against them a plague from the sky because of the wrongs they used to commit.

   fa-baddala lladhīna ẓalamū minhum qawlan ghayra lladhī qīla lahum fa-ʾarsalnā ʿalayhim rijzan mina s-samāʾi bi-mā kānū yaẓlimūna

4. واسألهم عن القرية التي كانت حاضرة البحر إذ يعدون في السبت إذ تأتيهم حيتانهم يوم سبتهم شرعا ويوم لا يسبتون لا تأتيهم كذلك نبلوهم بما كانوا يفسقون

   163

   Ask them about the town that was situated on the seaside, when they violated the Sabbath, when their fish would come to them on the Sabbath day, visibly on the shore, but on days when they were not keeping Sabbath they would not come to them. Thus did We test them because of the transgressions they used to commit.

   wa-sʾalhum ʿani l-qaryati llatī kānat ḥāḍirata l-baḥri ʾidh yaʿdūna fī s-sabti ʾidh taʾtīhim ḥītānuhum yawma sabtihim shurraʿan wa-yawma lā yasbitūna lā taʾtīhim ka-dhālika nablūhum bi-mā kānū yafsuqūna