Surah Al-Baqarah (The Cow) in English

1. ليس البر أن تولوا وجوهكم قبل المشرق والمغرب ولكن البر من آمن بالله واليوم الآخر والملائكة والكتاب والنبيين وآتى المال على حبه ذوي القربى واليتامى والمساكين وابن السبيل والسائلين وفي الرقاب وأقام الصلاة وآتى الزكاة والموفون بعهدهم إذا عاهدوا والصابرين في البأساء والضراء وحين البأس أولئك الذين صدقوا وأولئك هم المتقون

   177

   Piety is not to turn your faces to the east or the west; rather, piety is [personified by] those who have faith in Allah and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, and who give their wealth, for the love of Him, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller and the beggar, and for [the freeing of] the slaves, and maintain the prayer and give the zakat, and those who fulfill their covenants, when they pledge themselves, and those who are patient in stress and distress, and in the heat of battle. They are the ones who are true [to their covenant], and it is they who are the Godwary.

   laysa l-birra ʾan tuwallū wujūhakum qibala l-mashriqi wa-l-maghribi wa-lākinna l-birra man ʾāmana bi-llāhi wa-l-yawmi l-ʾākhiri wa-l-malāʾikati wa-l-kitābi wa-n-nabiyyīna wa-ʾātā l-māla ʿalā ḥubbihī dhawī l-qurbā wa-l-yatāmā wa-l-masākīna wa-bna s-sabīli wa-s-sāʾilīna wa-fī r-riqābi wa-ʾaqāma ṣ-ṣalāta wa-ʾātā z-zakāta wa-l-mūfūna bi-ʿahdihim ʾidhā ʿāhadū wa-ṣ-ṣābirīna fī l-baʾsāʾi wa-ḍ-ḍarrāʾi wa-ḥīna l-baʾsi ʾulāʾika lladhīna ṣadaqū wa-ʾulāʾika humu l-muttaqūna

2. يا أيها الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم القصاص في القتلى الحر بالحر والعبد بالعبد والأنثى بالأنثى فمن عفي له من أخيه شيء فاتباع بالمعروف وأداء إليه بإحسان ذلك تخفيف من ربكم ورحمة فمن اعتدى بعد ذلك فله عذاب أليم

   178

   O you who have faith! Retribution is prescribed for you regarding the slain: freeman for freeman, slave for slave, and female for female. But if one is granted any extenuation by his brother, let the follow up [for the blood-money] be honourable, and let the payment to him be with kindness. That is a remission from your Lord and a mercy; and should anyone transgress after that, there shall be a painful punishment for him.

   yā-ʾayyuhā lladhīna ʾāmanū kutiba ʿalaykumu l-qiṣāṣu fī l-qatlā l-ḥurru bi-l-ḥurri wa-l-ʿabdu bi-l-ʿabdi wa-l-ʾunthā bi-l-ʾunthā fa-man ʿufiya lahū min ʾakhīhi shayʾun fa-ttibāʿun bi-l-maʿrūfi wa-ʾadāʾun ʾilayhi bi-ʾiḥsānin dhālika takhfīfun min rabbikum wa-raḥmatun fa-mani ʿtadā baʿda dhālika fa-lahū ʿadhābun ʾalīmun

3. ولكم في القصاص حياة يا أولي الألباب لعلكم تتقون

   179

   There is life for you in retribution, O you who possess intellects! Maybe you will be Godwary!

   wa-lakum fī l-qiṣāṣi ḥayātun yā-ʾulī l-ʾalbābi laʿallakum tattaqūna

4. كتب عليكم إذا حضر أحدكم الموت إن ترك خيرا الوصية للوالدين والأقربين بالمعروف حقا على المتقين

   180

   Prescribed for you, when death approaches any of you and he leaves behind any property, is that he make a bequest for his parents and relatives, in an honourable manner—an obligation on the Godwary.

   kutiba ʿalaykum ʾidhā ḥaḍara ʾaḥadakumu l-mawtu ʾin taraka khayran-i l-waṣiyyatu li-l-wālidayni wa-l-ʾaqrabīna bi-l-maʿrūfi ḥaqqan ʿalā l-muttaqīna

5. فمن بدله بعد ما سمعه فإنما إثمه على الذين يبدلونه إن الله سميع عليم

   181

   And should anyone alter it after hearing it, its sin shall indeed lie on those who alter it. Indeed Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.

   fa-man baddalahū baʿda mā samiʿahū fa-ʾinnamā ʾithmuhū ʿalā lladhīna yubaddilūnahū ʾinna llāha samīʿun ʿalīmun