Surah An-Nahl English Translation & Transliteration

¹Allah's command has come, so there is no need for you to wish it to come in haste.(1) Allah is free from all the partners they associate with Him, and He is most exalted.(2)

²It is He who sends down the angels with revelation from Himself to whichever of His servants He wills, so that they may warn people with His command: "There is no god but Me; there is only Me. So guard yourselves against defying Me alone!"

³For He created the heavens and the earth for a true purpose. Allah is far above all the elements of shirk they associate with Him.

⁴He created the human being from a drop of fluid/sperm.(1) Yet the human being has turned into an open enemy of Allah.(2)

⁵He also created the livestock. From them you make clothing, and besides many other benefits you also obtain food.

⁶And there is a special beauty in them for you when you drive them out to graze in the morning and when they come back from the pasture in the evening.

⁷And they carry your loads to distant places that you could reach only with great hardship. There is no doubt that your Lord is most compassionate and most merciful.

⁸He created horses, mules, and donkeys both for you to ride and to add color to your lives. And He will create many more things that you do not yet know.

⁹Showing the right path belongs to Allah; whoever wishes enters the path Allah shows;(1) but there are also other paths that lead astray. Had Allah willed, He would have guided you all to the right path.(2)

¹⁰It is He who sends down water from the sky for you. From it you obtain drinking water, and with it you grow the plants and trees on which you graze your animals.

¹¹With that water Allah grows for you crops, olive trees and date palms, grapes, and fruits of every kind. Surely in this there are proofs for a people who reflect.

¹²He has placed the night and the day at your service. The sun, the moon, and the stars, too, have been placed at your service by His command. Surely in this too there are many proofs for a people who use their reason.

¹³He has brought into being on the earth blessings of every color for you. Surely in this there is a proof for a people who reflect and take a lesson.

¹⁴And it is He who has placed the sea at your service, so that you may eat fresh meat from it and bring out from it jewelry to adorn yourselves with. You see the ships sailing through the seas so that you may seek your share of Allah's grace. Perhaps you will give all these blessings their due.

¹⁵And it is He who has placed weights upon the earth so that you are not shaken, and has set rivers and roads so that you may find your way.

¹⁶And many other landmarks... Indeed, people find their way by the stars.

¹⁷Do you never reflect? Can the One who creates all this be equal to one who can create nothing?

¹⁸Were you to try to count Allah's blessings, you could never count them.(1) Surely Allah is, even so, matchless in forgiveness and an infinite source of mercy.(2)

¹⁹And Allah knows both what you conceal and what you disclose.

²⁰Yet those whom they place between themselves and Allah and implore in prayer, far from creating anything, have themselves been created.

²¹They are dead, not living. Moreover, they do not even know when they will be raised to life.

²²Your God is one God. But the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter deny this truth because of their arrogance.

²³There is no doubt that Allah knows both what they hide in their hearts and what they disclose.(1) For He does not love the arrogant at all.(2)

²⁴And when they are asked, "What has your Lord sent down?" they say, "The legends of the ancients."

²⁵Thus, on the Day of Resurrection, they will bear their own sins in full, and will also bear part of the sins of those they led astray through ignorance. What a wretched load it is that they bear!

²⁶Those before them had also laid traps. But Allah brought down those traps of theirs, solid as a building, from their very foundations, and brought the roof down on their heads; and the punishment seized them before they knew where it had come from.

²⁷Then, on the Day of Resurrection, Allah will humiliate them and say: "Where, then, are My partners, for whose sake you contended and whom you associated with Me?" Those who have attained knowledge of the truth will say: "Today disgrace and punishment are inescapable for these disbelievers who cover up the truth!"

²⁸As the angels take their souls while they are sunk in shirk, they say in submission: "We did no evil!" The angels say: "Allah knows very well what you did!"

²⁹Go on, then, enter the gates of Hell, in which you will remain! How evil is the abode of the arrogant!

³⁰When those who guard themselves against defying Allah are asked, "What has your Lord sent down to you?" they reply, "Goodness and beauty!" For those who do good and beautiful deeds there is good in this world, and the abode of the Hereafter is better still. How excellent is the abode of the God-conscious (muttaqin), who guard themselves!

³¹Those abodes are the Gardens of Adn (Eden), beneath which rivers flow; they will enter them, and there they will have whatever they wish. Thus does Allah reward the God-conscious.

³²The angels will take their souls gently, without hurting them, and say to them: "Peace be upon you (salamun alaykum)! Happy are you! Enter Paradise as a reward for what you did!"

³³Are they now waiting for the angels to come, or for your Lord's command of punishment to come? Those before them behaved in just the same way. Allah was not wronging them; rather, they were wronging themselves and bringing ruin upon themselves.

³⁴At last the evil consequences of the evil they had done befell them, and the very thing they used to make light of and mock closed in on them from every side.

³⁵Those who associate partners with Allah, ascribing His attributes to others, say: "Had Allah so willed, neither we nor our forefathers would have served anything besides Allah, nor would we have declared anything forbidden on the word of anyone but Him." Those before them said exactly the same. Yet what duty do the messengers have other than to convey the revelation clearly?

³⁶Indeed, We sent a messenger to every community to make known the command: "Serve Allah alone, and keep away from the evil powers that lead people astray from His path!" Some of them followed the path Allah showed, and some deserved to be branded with misguidance. Travel through the land and see what the end was of those who clung to lies in the face of the truth.

³⁷However much you may want them to enter the right path, the fact is that Allah does not guide to the right path one who chooses misguidance, and they will have no helpers either.

³⁸And they swear their most solemn oaths in Allah's name: "Allah will never raise to life one who has died." No! It is a promise Allah has made binding upon Himself to fulfill. But most people do not know this truth.

³⁹Yes, this raising to life is so that He may make clear to them the matters on which they differed, and expose the disbelievers who cover up the truth as liars.

⁴⁰For when We will a thing to be, We say to it, "Be," and it at once enters the process of coming into being.

⁴¹On the other hand, as for those who, after suffering oppression and torture, leave their homes and emigrate in Allah's way, We will grant them a good home and good means in the life of this world. But the reward of the Hereafter will be far greater. If only those who do not believe could understand this!

⁴²These are the ones who stand firm and endure patiently in their cause, and who rely and trust in their Lord alone.

⁴³Those We sent as messengers before you, giving them revelation, were nothing but men like you. If you do not know, ask the followers of the earlier revelations.

⁴⁴We sent them with clear proofs of the truth and with books. And We have sent down this Quran to you too, so that you may make clear to people what has been sent down to them. Perhaps they will reflect on it deeply.

⁴⁵Now, do those who plot vile schemes against you have any guarantee that Allah will not cause the earth to swallow them up, or that punishment will not come down upon them from where they least expect?

⁴⁶Or do they have any guarantee that a punishment from which they can never escape will not seize them while they are going about their daily business?

⁴⁷Or do they have any guarantee that they will not be dragged to destruction by a fear cast among them? Yet there is no doubt that your Lord is most compassionate and most merciful.

⁴⁸Do they not see, then, how the shadows of the things Allah has created turn to the right and to the left according to a law, prostrating to Allah in deep humility and submitting to Him?

⁴⁹For all living creatures in the heavens and on the earth, and the angels, prostrate to Allah/submit to His law without any arrogance.

⁵⁰For they fear their Lord, who has dominion over them, and carry out exactly the commands they are given.

⁵¹Allah has said: "Do not take two gods. For He is only one God. So fear Me alone!"

⁵²For everything in the heavens and on the earth belongs to Allah. Religion and the laying down of rules are His right alone. Do you, then, fear anyone other than Allah?

⁵³Know well that all the blessings you possess are from Allah. And then, when some hardship touches you, it is Him alone that you implore.

⁵⁴Then, when He delivers you from the hardship that befell you, a group among you begin to associate partners with their Lord.

⁵⁵Thus they show ingratitude for what We have given them. Go on, enjoy the blessings for a while longer; one day you will surely learn the truth!

⁵⁶Moreover, from the provision We have given them, they set aside a share for beings whose use they do not even know. By Allah, you will certainly be called to account for what you have been inventing.

⁵⁷They even ascribe daughters to Allah. Far be it from Him; how could such a thing be? And for themselves, the sons they so much desire.

⁵⁸Yet when one of them is given the news of a baby girl, his face turns dark with rage.

⁵⁹And because of this bad news he has been given, he cannot show his face among the people. Should he keep the child and bear this shame, or bury her alive in the ground? Mark well what a vile judgment they make!

⁶⁰All such ugly attributes belong to those who do not believe in the Hereafter. Allah, however, possesses the most exalted attributes. For He is perfect in all He does, and His every decision is right.

⁶¹If Allah were to punish people at once for the wrongs they commit, He would not leave a single living creature on the earth. But Allah grants them respite until an appointed term. When their term comes, they can neither delay it by a single moment nor bring it forward.

⁶²They both deem fitting for Allah what they themselves dislike, and keep repeating the lie that the finest outcome awaits them in the Hereafter. There is no doubt that the Fire is for them, and that they are the ones who overstep the limits.

⁶³Allah is witness that We sent messengers to the communities before you as well. But Satan made their evil deeds seem attractive to them. Today, too, he is still their patron, and a painful punishment awaits them as well.

⁶⁴We have sent down this Book/the Quran to you only so that you may make clear to them the resolution of the matters on which they have fallen into disagreement, and so that it may be a guide and a mercy for a people who believe and trust.

⁶⁵It is Allah who sends down water from the sky and with it gives life to the earth after its death. There is no doubt that in this there is a lesson for a people who listen to the truth.

⁶⁶In milking animals too there is a lesson for you. For We give you to drink spotlessly clean, pure milk, which is filtered out from between the remains of food in their bellies and blood, and which slips down the throats of those who drink it as smoothly as oil.

⁶⁷From the fruits of the date palms and the vineyards you obtain both intoxicating/mind-clouding drinks and good food. In this too there is a lesson for a people who use their reason.

⁶⁸Your Lord revealed to the honeybee: "Make dwellings for yourself in the mountains, in the trees, and in the trellises people build!"

⁶⁹"Then eat from every kind of fruit, and go, following the routes your Lord has taught you!" From within the bellies of these bees there comes forth a drink of many colors, in which there is healing for people. In this too there is a lesson for a people who reflect deeply.

⁷⁰It is Allah who created you and who will then cause you to die. He lets some of you live on to the feeblest stage of life, when they can no longer know what they are saying or doing. Surely Allah is all-knowing and has power over all things.

⁷¹Allah has made some of you different from others in provision. Yet those who have been given wealth will not share the wealth they possess with those under their authority and so come to be on an equal footing with them. Are they, then, knowingly refusing to share Allah's blessing?

⁷²Allah has brought into being spouses for you from your own kind, and from your spouses He has produced children and grandchildren; and He has bestowed on you good and pure food. Do they, then, believe in meaningless and empty things and show ingratitude for all these blessings of Allah?

⁷³And how is it that, besides Allah, they serve beings who have no power to give them any provision from the heavens or the earth, and who are capable of nothing?

⁷⁴And do not presume to keep drawing likenesses between Allah and those you serve. For Allah knows where these likenesses lead, but you do not know.

⁷⁵Look, Allah gives you this example: Can one who is under another's yoke and has power over nothing be equal to one whom We have given abundant provision, and who spends from it as he wishes, in secret and openly? All praise belongs to Allah, who gives every blessing; but most people do not know this.

⁷⁶Allah also gives the example of these two men: One of them is mute, has power over nothing, and is moreover a burden to his master; whatever task his master sends him on, he can accomplish nothing. Can he be equal to one who commands what is right and just and is on a straight path?

⁷⁷Knowledge of the realities of the heavens and the earth that are beyond perception belongs to Allah. The Hour, the end of this world, will take place in the blink of an eye, or in even less time. For Allah is the One who sets a measure for all things.

⁷⁸It is Allah who brought you out of your mothers' wombs knowing nothing, and who gave you the faculties of hearing, listening, seeing, and thinking, so that perhaps you would give them their due and be grateful.

⁷⁹Do they not see how the birds fly in the void of the sky, within the framework of the laws Allah has laid down? None but Allah holds them up in the sky. Surely in this there are many proofs for a people who believe.

⁸⁰It is Allah who has graciously given you the means and the ability to build houses where you can live in peace, and to make from the hides of animals tents that you can easily carry and pitch, both when you move from place to place and when you settle. It is also Allah who has given you the skill to produce, from their wool, fur, and hair, household goods and articles of trade for short or long use.

⁸¹It is also Allah who has made shades for you from the things He created, brought into being caves in the mountains where you can take shelter, and bestowed on you the means and the skill to make garments that protect you from the heat and coats of mail that protect you in war. Thus Allah offers you His blessings in full. Perhaps you will submit to Him completely.

⁸²If, despite all this, they still turn away, do not forget that your duty is only to convey the message clearly.

⁸³For they recognize Allah's blessing perfectly well, yet then they go and deny it. Most of them are ungrateful for the blessings.

⁸⁴A day will come when We will raise up a witness from every community. Then the disbelievers who cover up the truth will not be allowed to put forward excuses,(1) and their requests to go back will not be accepted.(2)

⁸⁵When those who have wronged themselves see the punishment, their punishment will not be lightened, nor will anyone so much as look at them.

⁸⁶When those who associate partners with Allah see before them the partners they associated with Him, they will say: "Our Lord! These are the ones we used to implore in prayer besides You." And those others will retort, throwing words back at them: "You are certainly liars."

⁸⁷On that day they will offer their submission to Allah, and the partners they invented will distance themselves from them and abandon them.

⁸⁸As for those who cover up the truths themselves and also turn others away from Allah's path, We will give them punishment upon punishment for the social decay they have caused.

⁸⁹On the day We bring against every community a witness from among themselves, We will bring you as a witness against these people!(1) For We have sent down to you this Book/the Quran, which explains everything and is a guide, a mercy, and good news for those who have become Muslims wholeheartedly.(2)

⁹⁰There is no doubt that Allah commands being just,(1) doing good,(2) and helping relatives.(3) And He forbids every kind of immorality, shameful deeds, and overstepping the limits.(4) He advises you so that you may reflect and take it to heart.(5)

⁹¹When you make an agreement, fulfill the covenant you have given to Allah. Do not break your oaths after you have confirmed them by making Allah your guarantor. For Allah knows very well what you do.

⁹²Do not, like the woman who unravels her yarn after spinning it firmly, turn your oaths into a means of deceiving one another for the sake of gain, because one community is stronger and more influential than another. For Allah is testing you through your oaths. On the Day of Resurrection Allah will certainly make clear the matters on which you disagreed.

⁹³Had Allah willed, He would certainly have made you a single community.(1) But He leaves in misguidance the one who chooses misguidance, and guides to His right path the one who chooses the right path. For you will certainly be questioned about what you have done.(2)

⁹⁴Do not use your oaths as a means of deceiving one another. Otherwise your foot will slip after being planted on firm ground, and you will suffer the penalty for having departed from Allah's path. And you will be condemned to a terrible punishment.

⁹⁵Beware! Do not trade the covenant you have made with Allah for a trifling worldly gain. The reward with Allah is far more valuable for you, if only you knew.

⁹⁶For what you possess runs out, but what is with Allah never runs out.(1) And We will certainly reward those who are patient according to the best of what they did.(2)

⁹⁷Whoever does good and beneficial deeds as a believer, whether male or female, We will certainly make him live a good life in this world, and We will surely reward them according to the best of what they did.

⁹⁸When you recite the Quran, seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the outcast.

⁹⁹The truth is that Satan has no power of compulsion whatsoever over those who believe and who rely and trust in their Lord alone.

¹⁰⁰His power of compulsion is only over those who take him as their patron and those who associate partners with Allah.

¹⁰¹When We replace one message with another (and Allah knows very well which message He sends down), they say: "You are making this up." No, in fact most of them do not know the truth of revelation.

¹⁰²Say: "The Holy Spirit has brought it down to you from your Lord for a true purpose, both to strengthen your faith and to be a road map to the right path and good news for the Muslims."

¹⁰³We certainly know that they say: "A human being is teaching him this Quran." Yet the language of the one they have in mind is foreign, while this Quran is in clear Arabic.

¹⁰⁴Allah will never bring to their goals those who do not believe in Allah's verses, and for them there is a painful punishment.

¹⁰⁵In any case, only those who do not believe in Allah's verses invent such a lie. It is they who are the real liars.

¹⁰⁶Except for one who is forced to say he has become a disbeliever while his heart is full of faith, whoever disbelieves after having believed and opens his heart to disbelief incurs Allah's wrath in this world. And in the Hereafter too there is a terrible punishment for them.

¹⁰⁷This punishment is because they preferred the life of this world to the Hereafter. There is no doubt that Allah will not bring such ungrateful disbelievers to what they hope for.

¹⁰⁸These are the people who do not want to hear Allah's message with their ears or see it with their eyes; they have also sealed their hearts, and it is they who are the truly heedless.

¹⁰⁹There is no doubt that in the Hereafter they will be the utter losers.

¹¹⁰On the other hand, your Lord will watch over those who emigrate from their homes after suffering pressure and oppression, then strive with all their might in Allah's way and stand firm and endure every hardship. For after this your Lord will treat them with forgiveness and mercy.

¹¹¹A day will come when everyone will be wholly taken up with his own plight. For on that day everyone will receive in full the recompense for what he did, and no one will be wronged in any way.

¹¹²Allah gives as an example a town whose people lived in security and prosperity. While their provision came to them in abundance from every side, they were ungrateful for Allah's blessings. Thereupon Allah, because of what they did, made them taste the scourge of hunger and fear.

¹¹³For a messenger from among themselves had come to them, and they had accused him of lying. While they persisted in this injustice, the punishment seized them.

¹¹⁴So eat of the clean and lawful provision Allah has given you. And give thanks for the blessings Allah has given you, if it is truly Allah alone you serve.

¹¹⁵For He has forbidden you only carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, and the meat of animals slaughtered in the name of anyone other than Allah. But whoever is driven by hunger to necessity may eat of them, without craving it and without going beyond the limit. Surely Allah is matchless in forgiveness and possesses infinite mercy.

¹¹⁶From now on, do not say carelessly and falsely, "This is lawful and that is forbidden"; otherwise you will be slandering Allah with the lie you invent. There is no doubt that those who slander Allah will never prosper.

¹¹⁷A brief and passing pleasure awaits them in this world, and a painful punishment in the Hereafter.

¹¹⁸We had also forbidden the Jews the things We told you of before. We were not wronging them; rather, they were wronging themselves and bringing ruin upon themselves.

¹¹⁹Then again, your Lord will watch over those who commit an evil in ignorance and afterwards repent, turn back, and set their state right. After this, too, your Lord will treat them with matchless forgiveness and mercy.

¹²⁰There is no doubt that Abraham, devoted to Allah with all his heart, was a community in himself. And he was never one of those who associate partners with Allah.

¹²¹He was ever grateful for Allah's blessings. And Allah chose him and guided him to the straight path.

¹²²And We gave him goodness and beauty in this world. Surely in the Hereafter too he will take his place among the righteous.

¹²³That is why We have revealed to you too: "Follow the belief system of Abraham, who was cleansed of every kind of shirk!" For he was never one of those who associate partners with Allah.

¹²⁴The Sabbath (Saturday) prohibition was imposed only against those who fell into disagreement over their belief system. There is no doubt that on the Day of Resurrection your Lord will give the necessary judgment on the matters over which they disagreed.

¹²⁵Call to your Lord's path with wisdom and with good counsel, the Quran. Contend with them in the finest manner! Surely your Lord knows best who strays from His path and who turns to the right path.

¹²⁶If you are going to punish someone, content yourselves with responding with exactly what was done to you. But if you are patient, that is far better for those who are patient.

¹²⁷And you, be patient in the face of what is done to you! Know that it is Allah who gives you the power of patience/resistance. And do not grieve over what they do to you, and above all do not let your heart be troubled by the intrigues they devise.

¹²⁸For Allah is with those who are patient and guard themselves, and who do good and act with tolerance.