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

1. وإذ قالت أمة منهم لم تعظون قوما الله مهلكهم أو معذبهم عذابا شديدا قالوا معذرة إلى ربكم ولعلهم يتقون

   164

   When a group of them said, ‘Why do you advise a people whom Allah will destroy, or punish with a severe punishment?’ They said, ‘As an excuse before your Lord, and [with the hope] that they may be Godwary.’

   wa-ʾidh qālat ʾummatun minhum li-ma taʿiẓūna qawman-i llāhu muhlikuhum ʾaw muʿadhdhibuhum ʿadhāban shadīdan qālū maʿdhiratan ʾilā rabbikum wa-laʿallahum yattaqūna

2. فلما نسوا ما ذكروا به أنجينا الذين ينهون عن السوء وأخذنا الذين ظلموا بعذاب بئيس بما كانوا يفسقون

   165

   So when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We delivered those who forbade evil [conduct] and seized the wrongdoers with a terrible punishment because of the transgressions they used to commit.

   fa-lammā nasū mā dhukkirū bihī ʾanjaynā lladhīna yanhawna ʿani s-sūʾi wa-ʾakhadhnā lladhīna ẓalamū bi-ʿadhābin baʾīsin bi-mā kānū yafsuqūna

3. فلما عتوا عن ما نهوا عنه قلنا لهم كونوا قردة خاسئين

   166

   When they defied [the command pertaining to] what they were forbidden from, We said to them, ‘Be you spurned apes.’

   fa-lammā ʿataw ʿan mā nuhū ʿanhu qulnā lahum kūnū qiradatan khāsiʾīna

4. وإذ تأذن ربك ليبعثن عليهم إلى يوم القيامة من يسومهم سوء العذاب إن ربك لسريع العقاب وإنه لغفور رحيم

   167

   And when your Lord proclaimed that He would surely send against them, until the Day of Resurrection, those who would inflict on them a terrible punishment. Indeed your Lord is swift in retribution, and indeed, He is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

   wa-ʾidh taʾadhdhana rabbuka la-yabʿathanna ʿalayhim ʾilā yawmi l-qiyāmati man yasūmuhum sūʾa l-ʿadhābi ʾinna rabbaka la-sarīʿu l-ʿiqābi wa-ʾinnahū la-ghafūrun raḥīmun

5. وقطعناهم في الأرض أمما منهم الصالحون ومنهم دون ذلك وبلوناهم بالحسنات والسيئات لعلهم يرجعون

   168

   We dispersed them into communities around the earth: some of them were righteous, and some of them otherwise, and We tested them with good and bad [times] so that they may come back.

   wa-qaṭṭaʿnāhum fī l-ʾarḍi ʾumaman minhumu ṣ-ṣāliḥūna wa-minhum dūna dhālika wa-balawnāhum bi-l-ḥasanāti wa-s-sayyiʾāti laʿallahum yarjiʿūna

6. فخلف من بعدهم خلف ورثوا الكتاب يأخذون عرض هذا الأدنى ويقولون سيغفر لنا وإن يأتهم عرض مثله يأخذوه ألم يؤخذ عليهم ميثاق الكتاب أن لا يقولوا على الله إلا الحق ودرسوا ما فيه والدار الآخرة خير للذين يتقون أفلا تعقلون

   169

   Then they were succeeded by an evil posterity, which inherited the Book: they grab the transitory gains of this lower world, and say, ‘It will be forgiven us.’ And if similar transitory gains were to come their way, they would grab them too. Was not the covenant of the Book taken with them that they shall not attribute anything to Allah except the truth? They have studied what is in it, and [know that] the abode of the Hereafter is better for those who are Godwary. Do you not exercise your reason?

   fa-khalafa min baʿdihim khalfun warithū l-kitāba yaʾkhudhūna ʿaraḍa hādhā l-ʾadnā wa-yaqūlūna sa-yughfaru lanā wa-ʾin yaʾtihim ʿaraḍun mithluhū yaʾkhudhūhu ʾa-lam yuʾkhadh ʿalayhim mīthāqu l-kitābi ʾan lā yaqūlū ʿalā llāhi ʾillā l-ḥaqqa wa-darasū mā fīhi wa-d-dāru l-ʾākhiratu khayrun li-lladhīna yattaqūna ʾa-fa-lā taʿqilūna

7. والذين يمسكون بالكتاب وأقاموا الصلاة إنا لا نضيع أجر المصلحين

   170

   As for those who hold fast to the Book and maintain the prayer—indeed, We do not waste the reward of those who bring about reform.

   wa-lladhīna yumassikūna bi-l-kitābi wa-ʾaqāmū ṣ-ṣalāta ʾinnā lā nuḍīʿu ʾajra l-muṣliḥīna