Surah Al-Baqarah (The Cow) in English

1. يا أيها الذين آمنوا إذا تداينتم بدين إلى أجل مسمى فاكتبوه وليكتب بينكم كاتب بالعدل ولا يأب كاتب أن يكتب كما علمه الله فليكتب وليملل الذي عليه الحق وليتق الله ربه ولا يبخس منه شيئا فإن كان الذي عليه الحق سفيها أو ضعيفا أو لا يستطيع أن يمل هو فليملل وليه بالعدل واستشهدوا شهيدين من رجالكم فإن لم يكونا رجلين فرجل وامرأتان ممن ترضون من الشهداء أن تضل إحداهما فتذكر إحداهما الأخرى ولا يأب الشهداء إذا ما دعوا ولا تسأموا أن تكتبوه صغيرا أو كبيرا إلى أجله ذلكم أقسط عند الله وأقوم للشهادة وأدنى ألا ترتابوا إلا أن تكون تجارة حاضرة تديرونها بينكم فليس عليكم جناح ألا تكتبوها وأشهدوا إذا تبايعتم ولا يضار كاتب ولا شهيد وإن تفعلوا فإنه فسوق بكم واتقوا الله ويعلمكم الله والله بكل شيء عليم

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   O you who have faith! When you contract a loan for a specified term, write it down. Let a writer write with honesty between you, and let not the writer refuse to write as Allah has taught him. So let him write, and let the one who incurs the debt dictate, and let him be wary of Allah, his Lord, and not diminish anything from it. But if the debtor be feeble-minded, or weak, or incapable of dictating himself, then let his guardian dictate with honesty, and take as witness two witnesses from your men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women—from those whom you approve as witnesses—so that if one of the two defaults the other will remind her. The witnesses must not refuse when they are called, and do not consider it wearisome to write it down, whether it be a big or small sum, [as a loan lent] until its term. That is more just with Allah and more upright in respect to testimony, and the likeliest way to avoid doubt, unless it is an on-the-spot deal you transact between yourselves, in which case there is no sin upon you not to write it. Take witnesses when you make a deal, and let no harm be done to the writer or witness, and if you did that, it would be sinful of you. Be wary of Allah and Allah will teach you, and Allah has knowledge of all things.

   yā-ʾayyuhā lladhīna ʾāmanū ʾidhā tadāyantum bi-daynin ʾilā ʾajalin musamman fa-ktubūhu wa-l-yaktub baynakum kātibun bi-l-ʿadli wa-lā yaʾba kātibun ʾan yaktuba ka-mā ʿallamahu llāhu fa-l-yaktub wa-l-yumlili lladhī ʿalayhi l-ḥaqqu wa-l-yattaqi llāha rabbahū wa-lā yabkhas minhu shayʾan fa-ʾin kāna lladhī ʿalayhi l-ḥaqqu safīhan ʾaw ḍaʿīfan ʾaw lā yastaṭīʿu ʾan yumilla huwa fa-l-yumlil waliyyuhū bi-l-ʿadli wa-stashhidū shahīdayni min rijālikum fa-ʾin lam yakūnā rajulayni fa-rajulun wa-mraʾatāni mimman tarḍawna mina sh-shuhadāʾi ʾan taḍilla ʾiḥdāhumā fa-tudhakkira ʾiḥdāhumā l-ʾukhrā wa-lā yaʾba sh-shuhadāʾu ʾidhā mā duʿū wa-lā tasʾamū ʾan taktubūhu ṣaghīran ʾaw kabīran ʾilā ʾajalihī dhālikum ʾaqsaṭu ʿinda llāhi wa-ʾaqwamu li-sh-shahādati wa-ʾadnā ʾallā tartābū ʾillā ʾan takūna tijāratan ḥāḍiratan tudīrūnahā baynakum fa-laysa ʿalaykum junāḥun ʾallā taktubūhā wa-ʾashhidū ʾidhā tabāyaʿtum wa-lā yuḍārra kātibun wa-lā shahīdun wa-ʾin tafʿalū fa-ʾinnahū fusūqun bikum wa-ttaqū llāha wa-yuʿallimukumu llāhu wa-llāhu bi-kulli shayʾin ʿalīmun