Surah Ad-Duha English Translation & Brief Tafsir

¹O Prophet! By the clear light of mid-morning, which brings the good news that the night is over and that the hardships you have been through will also one day come to an end, and which tells the believers of a bright future…

²And by the night, when darkness has fully fallen, when everything has grown still, and which tells that morning is drawing near…

³O Prophet! Do not let it surprise or alarm you that Our verses have not reached you for a while. Pay no attention to the polytheists who, using the pause in revelation as a pretext, say that Allah has abandoned you! Your Lord, who created you, raised you, took you under His care and protection, and gives direction to your life, has never abandoned you, nor is He displeased with you. For just as night and day follow one another in flawless order, so the revelation sent to you will come according to the order and wisdom Allah has determined.

⁴So never give in to despair, and carry on with your mission! For each stage from now on will be better for you than the one before, just as your life in the Hereafter will be far more meaningful and far better than your life in this world. The cause of tawhid that you convey will also reach a better point in the future than where it stands today.

⁵Surely, with Allah’s help, when the time comes you will attain victory and receive many blessings. In return for your effort and resolve, your Lord will help you all the more and will reward you. And you will be well pleased with His boundless grace and generosity.

⁶Your Lord’s support has been with you since your childhood. Do not forget that when you were an orphan, having lost your mother and father at a young age, He protected you and gave you shelter among your loved ones.

⁷Remember those days! Faced with the waywardness of your people, you were searching, not knowing what to do or how you ought to live. Though you knew nothing of the order of life Allah has laid down or of the rulings of religion, you longed for guidance. Did your Lord not keep you from becoming tainted by shirk, though you lived in a polytheistic society, and direct you, through the Quran’s guidance, onto the straight path?

⁸When you were poor and in need, did He not provide you with the means of lawful earning and so meet your needs?

⁹So, just as your Lord protected you and took you under His care, you too must protect and look after orphans. Never look down on orphans or hurt them, and never allow them to be downtrodden.

¹⁰You understand the plight of the poor better than anyone. Just as your Lord made you prosperous, you too must take the poor and the orphan under your wing. Do not drive away from your door, or rebuke, those who come to you in confusion asking to be shown the way. Stand by them, and do not hurt those in need who ask you for help.

¹¹Do not forget that the true Owner of people, the One who protects and governs them, is Allah. Speak with gratitude of all the blessings your Lord has graciously bestowed on you, and tell people, without ceasing, of the revelation He has sent. Invite people to live by an order of life in keeping with the purpose of their creation, and keep on conveying tawhid!