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

1. وإذ نتقنا الجبل فوقهم كأنه ظلة وظنوا أنه واقع بهم خذوا ما آتيناكم بقوة واذكروا ما فيه لعلكم تتقون

   171

   When We plucked the mountain [and held it] above them as if it were a canopy (and they thought it was about to fall on them): ‘Hold on with power to what We have given you and remember that which is in it, so that you may be Godwary.’

   wa-ʾidh nataqnā l-jabala fawqahum ka-ʾannahū ẓullatun wa-ẓannū ʾannahū wāqiʿun bihim khudhū mā ʾātaynākum bi-quwwatin wa-dhkurū mā fīhi laʿallakum tattaqūna

2. وإذ أخذ ربك من بني آدم من ظهورهم ذريتهم وأشهدهم على أنفسهم ألست بربكم قالوا بلى شهدنا أن تقولوا يوم القيامة إنا كنا عن هذا غافلين

   172

   When your Lord took from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their descendants and made them bear witness over themselves, [He said to them,] ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said, ‘Yes indeed! We bear witness.’ [This,] lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘Indeed we were unaware of this,’

   wa-ʾidh ʾakhadha rabbuka min banī ʾādama min ẓuhūrihim dhurriyyatahum wa-ʾashhadahum ʿalā ʾanfusihim ʾa-lastu bi-rabbikum qālū balā shahidnā ʾan taqūlū yawma l-qiyāmati ʾinnā kunnā ʿan hādhā ghāfilīna

3. أو تقولوا إنما أشرك آباؤنا من قبل وكنا ذرية من بعدهم أفتهلكنا بما فعل المبطلون

   173

   or lest you should say, ‘Our fathers ascribed partners [to Allah] before [us] and we were descendants after them. Will You then destroy us because of what the falsifiers have done?’

   ʾaw taqūlū ʾinnamā ʾashraka ʾābāʾunā min qablu wa-kunnā dhurriyyatan min baʿdihim ʾa-fa-tuhlikunā bi-mā faʿala l-mubṭilūna

4. وكذلك نفصل الآيات ولعلهم يرجعون

   174

   Thus do We elaborate the signs, so that they may come back.

   wa-ka-dhālika nufaṣṣilu l-ʾāyāti wa-laʿallahum yarjiʿūna

5. واتل عليهم نبأ الذي آتيناه آياتنا فانسلخ منها فأتبعه الشيطان فكان من الغاوين

   175

   Relate to them an account of him to whom We gave Our signs, but he cast them off. Thereupon Satan pursued him, and he became one of the perverse.

   wa-tlu ʿalayhim nabaʾa lladhī ʾātaynāhu ʾāyātinā fa-nsalakha minhā fa-ʾatbaʿahu sh-shayṭānu fa-kāna mina l-ghāwīna

6. ولو شئنا لرفعناه بها ولكنه أخلد إلى الأرض واتبع هواه فمثله كمثل الكلب إن تحمل عليه يلهث أو تتركه يلهث ذلك مثل القوم الذين كذبوا بآياتنا فاقصص القصص لعلهم يتفكرون

   176

   Had We wished, We would have surely raised him by their means, but he clung to the earth and followed his [base] desires. So his parable is that of a dog: if you make for it, it lolls out its tongue, and if you let it alone, it lolls out its tongue. Such is the parable of the people who deny Our signs. So recount these narratives, so that they may reflect.

   wa-law shiʾnā la-rafaʿnāhu bihā wa-lākinnahū ʾakhlada ʾilā l-ʾarḍi wa-ttabaʿa hawāhu fa-mathaluhū ka-mathali l-kalbi ʾin taḥmil ʿalayhi yalhath ʾaw tatrukhu yalhath dhālika mathalu l-qawmi lladhīna kadhdhabū bi-ʾāyātinā fa-qṣuṣi l-qaṣaṣa laʿallahum yatafakkarūna

7. ساء مثلا القوم الذين كذبوا بآياتنا وأنفسهم كانوا يظلمون

   177

   Evil is the parable of the people who deny Our signs and wrong themselves.

   sāʾa mathalan-i l-qawmu lladhīna kadhdhabū bi-ʾāyātinā wa-ʾanfusahum kānū yaẓlimūna

8. من يهد الله فهو المهتدي ومن يضلل فأولئك هم الخاسرون

   178

   Whomever Allah guides is rightly guided, and whomever He leads astray—it is they who are the losers.

   man yahdi llāhu fa-huwa l-muhtadī wa-man yuḍlil fa-ʾulāʾika humu l-khāsirūna