Surah Al-Ĥijr (The Rocky Tract) in English

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

1. الر تلك آيات الكتاب وقرآن مبين

   1

   Alif, Lam, Ra. These are the signs of the Book and a manifest Quran.

   a-l-r (ʾalif lām rā) tilka ʾāyātu l-kitābi wa-qurʾānin mubīnin

2. ربما يود الذين كفروا لو كانوا مسلمين

   2

   Much will the faithless wish that they had been Muslims.

   rubamā yawaddu lladhīna kafarū law kānū muslimīna

3. ذرهم يأكلوا ويتمتعوا ويلههم الأمل فسوف يعلمون

   3

   Leave them to eat and enjoy and to be diverted by longings. Soon they will know.

   dharhum yaʾkulū wa-yatamattaʿū wa-yulhihimu l-ʿamalu fa-sawfa yaʿlamūna

4. وما أهلكنا من قرية إلا ولها كتاب معلوم

   4

   We did not destroy any town but that it had a known term.

   wa-mā ʾahlaknā min qaryatin ʾillā wa-lahā kitābun maʿlūmun

5. ما تسبق من أمة أجلها وما يستأخرون

   5

   No nation can advance its time nor can it defer it.

   mā tasbiqu min ʾummatin ʾajalahā wa-mā yastaʾkhirūna

6. وقالوا يا أيها الذي نزل عليه الذكر إنك لمجنون

   6

   They said, ‘O you, to whom the Reminder has been sent down, you are indeed crazy.

   wa-qālū yā-ʾayyuhā lladhī nuzzila ʿalayhi dh-dhikru ʾinnaka la-majnūnun

7. لو ما تأتينا بالملائكة إن كنت من الصادقين

   7

   Why do you not bring us the angels should you be truthful?!’

   law mā taʾtīnā bi-l-malāʾikati ʾin kunta mina ṣ-ṣādiqīna

8. ما ننزل الملائكة إلا بالحق وما كانوا إذا منظرين

   8

   We do not send down the angels except with due reason, and then they will not be granted any respite.

   mā nunazzilu l-malāʾikata ʾillā bi-l-ḥaqqi wa-mā kānū ʾidhan munẓarīna

9. إنا نحن نزلنا الذكر وإنا له لحافظون

   9

   Indeed We have sent down the Reminder, and indeed We will preserve it.

   ʾinnā naḥnu nazzalnā dh-dhikra wa-ʾinnā lahū la-ḥāfiẓūna

10. ولقد أرسلنا من قبلك في شيع الأولين

    10

    Certainly We sent [apostles] before you to former communities,

    wa-la-qad ʾarsalnā min qablika fī shiyaʿi l-ʾawwalīna

11. وما يأتيهم من رسول إلا كانوا به يستهزئون

    11

    and there did not come to them any apostle but that they used to deride him.

    wa-mā yaʾtīhim min rasūlin ʾillā kānū bihī yastahziʾūna

12. كذلك نسلكه في قلوب المجرمين

    12

    That is how We let it pass through the hearts of the guilty:

    ka-dhālika naslukuhū fī qulūbi l-mujrimīna

13. لا يؤمنون به وقد خلت سنة الأولين

    13

    they do not believe in it, and the precedent of the ancients has already passed.

    lā yuʾminūna bihī wa-qad khalat sunnatu l-ʾawwalīna

14. ولو فتحنا عليهم بابا من السماء فظلوا فيه يعرجون

    14

    Were We to open for them a gate of the sky, so that they could go on ascending through it,

    wa-law fataḥnā ʿalayhim bāban mina s-samāʾi fa-ẓallū fīhi yaʿrujūna

15. لقالوا إنما سكرت أبصارنا بل نحن قوم مسحورون

    15

    they would surely say, ‘Indeed a spell has been cast on our eyes; indeed, we are a bewitched lot.’

    la-qālū ʾinnamā sukkirat ʾabṣārunā bal naḥnu qawmun masḥūrūna