Surah Ar-Ra'd English Translation & Transliteration

¹Alif Lam Mim Ra. These are the verses of the Book. This Quran sent down to you from your Lord is the very truth. But most people do not believe in this truth.

²It is Allah who raised up these heavens without any pillars that you can see,(1) then brought the universe under His sovereignty,(2) and, within this order, made the moon and the sun, which will run their course in their orbits until an appointed time, subject to your service by a law, and who governs all that exists, putting everything in its proper place.(3) So that you may believe without any doubt in meeting your Lord,(4) He explains the verses in detail.(5)

³And it is He who spread out the earth and laid it like a carpet,(1) set firm and stable mountains upon it,(2) made many rivers flow in the valleys,(3) created pairs, male and female, of every kind of produce,(4) and wraps the day in the night.(5) Surely in all this there are many proofs for a people who reflect deeply.(6)

⁴On the earth there are neighboring yet different tracts of land. There are vineyards, fields of crops, and date palms that rise from a single root, forked or unforked, or from forked roots upon a single trunk. Though they are watered with the same water, We have created their fruits in colors and flavors each more beautiful than the other. In this too there are many signs/proofs for a people who use their reason.

⁵If you wonder at anything, then wonder rather at their saying: "Are we to be raised again after we have become dust?" They are the ones who cover up the truths that have come from their Lord. They are the ones who carry the collar of captivity around their necks. They are the people of the Fire. There they will remain.

⁶Moreover, abandoning good, they ask you to hasten the evil/punishment. Yet many painful examples to learn from have passed before them. Fortunately, your Lord is still forgiving despite people's sins and rebellion; but your Lord's punishment is also very severe.

⁷The disbelievers who cover up the truths say: "Should not a sign/miracle have been sent down to you from your Lord?"(1) Do not forget that you are only a warner.(2) For every community has had a guide.(3)

⁸Allah knows well what every female carries, and what the wombs fall short of and what they increase. For with Him everything is according to a law and a measure.

⁹He is the One who knows both the world of the witnessed, which falls within the range of perception, and the world of the unseen, which lies beyond the limits of perception. He is greater than all things, the most exalted of all!

¹⁰For Allah there is no difference whether one of you conceals his words or declares them, or does something hidden at night or openly by day.

¹¹For every human being there are those before and behind him who follow him and, by Allah's command, protect him and record what he does.(1) Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition!(2) But when Allah wills (according to the wrongs they have done) that a people be punished, there is no one who can turn it back, and they have no refuge besides Allah.(3)

¹²It is Allah who shows you the lightning, making you feel fear and hope together; then He brings into being and raises up the rain-laden clouds.

¹³The thunder with praise, and the angels with reverence, act according to Allah's laws. While they keep arguing about Allah's power, He sends thunderbolts and strikes with them whoever deserves it. Yet He is terrible in punishment.

¹⁴True prayer is the prayer made to Allah alone. Those whom they place between themselves and Allah and implore in prayer cannot answer them in any way. Their case is just like that of one who stretches out his hands, opening his palms toward water so that it may reach his mouth; yet it will never reach him. So the prayer of these disbelievers is empty and futile.

¹⁵Every being with a will in the heavens and on the earth, and their shadows too, willingly or unwillingly/perforce submit to Allah morning and evening.

¹⁶Ask them: "Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" Say: "Allah!"(1) Say: "Then have you taken as protectors and helpers, placing them between yourselves and Allah, those who have no power even to benefit or harm themselves?"(2) And ask them too: "Are the blind and the seeing equal?(3) Or are darkness and light the same?"(4) Or have they discovered partners for Allah in creation, and so become confused about to whom true creation belongs? Say: "Allah is the absolute and sole Creator of all things.(5) He is the one God, who subjects all things to His authority."(6)

¹⁷Allah sends down water from the sky, and the valleys fill and overflow with it as far as they can. The torrent sweeps away the foam that forms on its surface. A similar foam forms on what you melt in the fire to make ornaments or tools. This is how Allah illustrates truth and falsehood by example! In the end the foam vanishes, while what benefits people remains on the earth. This is how Allah explains the truths through examples.

¹⁸For those who respond to their Lord's call there is the finest reward!(1) As for those who do not respond to His call, even if they owned all the wealth on earth and as much again, they would give it all as ransom to escape the punishment. The worst of reckonings awaits them. And their abode will be Hell. What an evil place to stay!(2)

¹⁹Can one who grasps that the Quran sent down to you from your Lord is the truth be equal to one who is blind to this truth? Only those of deep understanding/pure reason can reflect on this truth.

²⁰Those of deep understanding are those who fulfill the covenant of their innate nature (fitra) that they made with Allah and do not break that agreement.

²¹And they establish the bonds Allah has commanded to be established. For they are the ones who never fall short in reverence for their Lord and who fear facing an evil reckoning.

²²And they endure hardships patiently, seeking to win their Lord's good pleasure, and perform the prayer. They spend, in secret and openly, from the blessings We have given them; they repel evil with good. It is they who will reach the abode of happiness.

²³That abode is the gardens that are the centers of happiness, which they will enter, and the good among their forefathers, their spouses, and their descendants will enter them too; the angels will greet them from every gate and say to them:

²⁴"Peace be upon you (salamun alaykum)/congratulations for having endured hardships patiently! Welcome to the abode of happiness! What an excellent abode this is!"

²⁵But those who break the covenant of their innate nature that they made with Allah, sever the bonds Allah has commanded to be established, and spread corruption on the earth, they will be cursed. The worst abode/Hell awaits them...

²⁶Allah gives provision according to a measure to those who make the necessary effort. And they rejoice in it in the life of this world. Yet the life of this world, compared with the Hereafter, is nothing but a passing enjoyment.

²⁷The disbelievers who cover up the truths say: "Should not a miracle/sign have been sent down to you from your Lord?" Say: "Without doubt, Allah leaves in misguidance the one who chooses misguidance, and guides to His right path the one who turns to Him."

²⁸They are the ones who believe and trust (in Allah's verses), and whose reasoning hearts find contentment in Allah's Reminder, the Quran. Know well that reasoning hearts find contentment only in Allah's Reminder, the Quran.

²⁹Good news to those who believe, trust, and do good deeds! The finest future awaits them.

³⁰Thus, just as We sent messengers to the communities that came and went before them, We have sent you too as a messenger to this community, to recite and convey to them what We have revealed to you.(1) For they do not accept the Most Merciful (ar-Rahman). Say: "That Most Merciful is my Lord.(2) There is no god but Him;(3) I have bound myself to/put my trust in Him alone,(4) and to Him alone I have turned."(5)

³¹If only this were a Quran by which mountains were set in motion, or the earth split apart, or the dead made to speak! In any case, all such events take place within the framework of the laws Allah has laid down. Have the believers, then, grasped the truth that "had Allah willed, He would have gathered all people on the right path"(1) and still not given up their insistence?(2) But because of what the disbelievers who cover up the truth do, calamity will not cease to strike them, or it will hover close by their homes, until Allah's promise of victory (to the believers) is fulfilled. For Allah never goes back on His promise/word.(3)

³²Do not forget that many messengers before you were also made light of. I gave those disbelievers who covered up the truth a certain respite; then I seized them firmly. They learned what My punishment was like.

³³Who is it that knows what everyone earns and will judge accordingly? Yet they still associate partners with Allah.(1) Say: "Go on, sanctify them by giving them names and attributes!(2) Or are you informing Allah of something on earth that He does not know?(3) Or are you merely amusing yourselves with empty words?"(4) In fact, the order they have set up seems attractive to the disbelievers who cover up the truth, and so they stray from the true path.(5) For anyone whose misguidance Allah confirms, there is no one who can bring him to the right path.(6)

³⁴For such people there is punishment in the life of this world; and their punishment in the Hereafter is harsher still! And there is no one to protect them from Allah's punishment!

³⁵The Paradise promised to those who are God-conscious/act responsibly toward Allah is like gardens beneath which rivers flow, whose fruits and shade are everlasting. This is the outcome the muttaqin/those who guard themselves against sin deserve, while what the disbelievers who cover up the truth deserve is the Fire.

³⁶Some of those to whom We gave the Book rejoice in this Quran sent down to you.(1) But some groups among them do not believe in part of the Quran.(2) Say: "I have been commanded only to serve Allah and never to associate any partner with Him.(3) And I pray to Him alone, for my return is to Allah alone."(4)

³⁷Thus We have sent down this Quran as a clear and comprehensible source of judgment.(1) If you were to follow their made-up beliefs after revelation has come to you, there would be neither protector/friend nor guardian for you against Allah.(2)

³⁸Indeed, We sent messengers before you too, and gave them wives and children.(1) Besides, no messenger can bring a sign except by Allah's leave/the divine law.(2) For every age has its own form of message.(3)

³⁹For Allah abolishes what He wills and establishes what He wills. For the source of the message is with Him.

⁴⁰Whether We show you part of the punishment We have threatened them with, or ordain your death first, do not forget that your duty is only to convey the message.(1) Calling them to account is Our task.(2)

⁴¹Do they not see how We are gradually narrowing the land/their power and means? For Allah lays down the law, and no one can overturn His law.(1) For He is swift in reckoning.(2)

⁴²Indeed, those before them also laid traps, but it is for Allah to render all traps harmless. For He knows what everyone earns and what everyone plots. The disbelievers who plan traps will one day learn to whom the happy ending belongs.

⁴³The disbelievers who cover up the truths say: "You are not a messenger who has been sent." Say: "Allah is enough as a witness between me and you, and also whoever has knowledge of this Quran/message."