Surah Saba (Sheba) in English

1. أفترى على الله كذبا أم به جنة بل الذين لا يؤمنون بالآخرة في العذاب والضلال البعيد

   8

   Has he fabricated a lie against Allah, or is there a madness in him?’ Indeed, those who do not believe in the Hereafter languish in punishment and extreme error.

   ʾa-ftarā ʿalā llāhi kadhiban ʾam bihī jinnatun bali lladhīna lā yuʾminūna bi-l-ʾākhirati fī l-ʿadhābi wa-ḍ-ḍalāli l-baʿīdi

2. أفلم يروا إلى ما بين أيديهم وما خلفهم من السماء والأرض إن نشأ نخسف بهم الأرض أو نسقط عليهم كسفا من السماء إن في ذلك لآية لكل عبد منيب

   9

   Have they not regarded that which is before them and that which is behind them of the sky and the earth? If We like, We can make the earth swallow them, or let a fragment from the sky fall on them. There is indeed a sign in that for every penitent servant.

   ʾa-fa-lam yaraw ʾilā mā bayna ʾaydīhim wa-mā khalfahum mina s-samāʾi wa-l-ʾarḍi ʾin nashaʾ nakhsif bihimu l-ʾarḍa ʾaw nusqiṭ ʿalayhim kisafan mina s-samāʾi ʾinna fī dhālika la-ʾāyatan li-kulli ʿabdin munībin

3. ولقد آتينا داوود منا فضلا يا جبال أوبي معه والطير وألنا له الحديد

   10

   Certainly We gave David our grace: ‘O mountains and birds, chime in with him!’ And We made iron soft for him,

   wa-la-qad ʾātaynā dāwūda minnā faḍlan yā-jibālu ʾawwibī maʿahū wa-ṭ-ṭayra wa-ʾalannā lahu l-ḥadīda

4. أن اعمل سابغات وقدر في السرد واعملوا صالحا إني بما تعملون بصير

   11

   saying, ‘Make easy coats of mail, and keep the measure in arranging [the links], and act righteously. Indeed I watch what you do.’

   ʾani ʿmal sābighātin wa-qaddir fī s-sardi wa-ʿmalū ṣāliḥan ʾinnī bi-mā taʿmalūna baṣīrun

5. ولسليمان الريح غدوها شهر ورواحها شهر وأسلنا له عين القطر ومن الجن من يعمل بين يديه بإذن ربه ومن يزغ منهم عن أمرنا نذقه من عذاب السعير

   12

   And for Solomon [We subjected] the wind: its morning course was a month’s journey and its evening course was a month’s journey. We made a fount of [molten] copper flow for him, and [We placed at his service] some of the jinn who would work for him by the permission of his Lord, and if any of them swerved from Our command, We would make him taste the punishment of the Blaze.

   wa-li-sulaymāna r-rīḥa ghuduwwuhā shahrun wa-rawāḥuhā shahrun wa-ʾasalnā lahū ʿayna l-qiṭri wa-mina l-jinni man yaʿmalu bayna yadayhi bi-ʾidhni rabbihī wa-man yazigh minhum ʿan ʾamrinā nudhiqhu min ʿadhābi s-saʿīri

6. يعملون له ما يشاء من محاريب وتماثيل وجفان كالجواب وقدور راسيات اعملوا آل داوود شكرا وقليل من عبادي الشكور

   13

   They built for him as many temples as he wished, and figures, basins like cisterns, and caldrons fixed [in the ground]. ‘O House of David, act thankfully, and few of My servants are grateful.’

   yaʿmalūna lahū mā yashāʾu min maḥārība wa-tamāthīla wa-jifānin ka-l-jawābi wa-qudūrin rāsiyātin-i ʿmalū ʾāla dāwūda shukran wa-qalīlun min ʿibādiya sh-shakūru

7. فلما قضينا عليه الموت ما دلهم على موته إلا دابة الأرض تأكل منسأته فلما خر تبينت الجن أن لو كانوا يعلمون الغيب ما لبثوا في العذاب المهين

   14

   When We decreed death for him, nothing apprised them of his death except a worm which gnawed away at his staff. And when he fell down, [the humans] realized that had the jinn known the Unseen, they would not have remained in a humiliating torment.

   fa-lammā qaḍaynā ʿalayhi l-mawta mā dallahum ʿalā mawtihī ʾillā dābbatu l-ʾarḍi taʾkulu minsaʾatahū fa-lammā kharra tabayyanati l-jinnu ʾan law kānū yaʿlamūna l-ghayba mā labithū fī l-ʿadhābi l-muhīni