Surah Ar-Rum English Translation & Transliteration

¹Alif Lam Mim.

²The Romans have been defeated.

³In a region near you. But after this defeat they will very soon prevail.

⁴Within a handful of years. For in the end the command belongs to Allah. And on that day the believers too will rejoice,

⁵at the victory that is Allah's grace. Do not forget that Allah helps those who deserve it. For He has the power to give victory to whomever He wills, and He possesses infinite mercy.

⁶This is Allah's promise. For Allah never goes back on His promise. But most people do not know this truth.

⁷They know only the visible, outward face of the life of this world, and they are utterly heedless of the life of the Hereafter.

⁸Do they not reflect within themselves that Allah created the heavens, the earth, and everything between them only for a true purpose and for a set term? Yet most people do not believe that they will come before their Lord to give account.

⁹And have they never traveled through these lands and looked at what the end was of those before them, and taken a lesson? Yet those people were stronger than they, left deeper marks than they did, and made those lands more flourishing and prosperous than these have; moreover, their messengers had come to them with clear proofs of the truth. In the end it was not Allah who wronged them; rather, they were wronging themselves and bringing ruin upon themselves.

¹⁰In the end, the outcome of those who did evil, clinging to lies in the face of Allah's verses and making light of them and mocking them, was the worst of the worst.

¹¹Just as Allah began the creation of the human race, He will then repeat it, and in the end you will be returned to Him.

¹²On the day the Hour, the end of this world, comes, the guilty will be struck dumb and lose all hope.

¹³For those they associated with Allah will not be intercessors or intermediaries for them. Yet it was by associating partners with Him that they had become disbelievers.

¹⁴On the day the Hour comes, the sinners will be separated into groups.

¹⁵Those who believe and do deeds as beautiful as befits their faith will be happy and joyful in the gardens of Paradise.

¹⁶But the disbelievers who cover up the truth, cling to lies in the face of Our verses, and take no account of the meeting of the Hereafter, they will be in the punishment, face to face with what they did.

¹⁷Glorify and exalt Allah when you reach the evening and when you reach the morning!

¹⁸All praise in the heavens and on the earth belongs to Him; so glorify and exalt Him at midday and in the afternoon too.

¹⁹He brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living, and He gives life to dead soil. In the same way you too will be raised to life.

²⁰Among the proofs of His power is that He created you from earth. Then, as human beings, you develop and spread across the earth.

²¹And among His signs/proofs is that He created for you spouses of your own kind, so that you may find peace with them, and placed love and compassion between you. Surely in all this there are many signs/lessons for a people who can reflect deeply.

²²And among His signs/proofs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Surely in this there are many signs/lessons for those who grasp what is right and true.

²³And among His signs/proofs is that you are able to sleep by night and to seek your share of His grace by day. Surely in this there are many signs/lessons for a people who listen to the truth.

²⁴And among His signs/proofs is that He shows you the flashing lightning, so that you feel fear and hope together, and that He sends down water from the sky and revives with it the dead/parched earth. Surely in this too there are many signs/lessons for a people who can use their reason.

²⁵And among His signs/proofs is that, through the laws He has laid down, the heavens and the earth keep their positions in an ordered system. In the end He will call you once to rise from the earth, and at once you will come forth.

²⁶Every being in the heavens and on the earth belongs to Allah. Indeed, all of them are under His sovereignty.

²⁷It is He who began creation in the first place and who will then repeat it. This is very easy for Him. For the most exalted attributes in the heavens and on the earth are His. He is absolutely supreme and exalted, and His every judgment is right.

²⁸Allah gives you an example from your own lives. Would you consent to those under your command becoming partners in the wealth We have given you, sharing that wealth with them equally and standing on an equal footing with you? Would you feel for them the same concern you feel for yourselves? This is how We explain the verses for a people who use their reason.

²⁹Even so, the wrongdoers who persist in error blindly follow their desires and passions; yet who can guide to the right path one whose misguidance Allah has confirmed? And there is no one to help such people.

³⁰So turn your whole being, as a hanif/one purified of shirk, toward the upright religion that Allah has engraved in the very essence of humankind. For there will be no change in the pure nature Allah has created. This is the right and sound religion, but most people do not know this truth.

³¹Turn to Allah, turning away from every kind of falsehood, and guard yourselves against defying Him. Perform the prayer properly, and do not be among those who associate partners with Allah,

³²those who associate partners with Allah, who have torn their religion to pieces and split into various factions, each faction boasting of its own belief and views.

³³Whenever some hardship befalls people, they at once turn to their Lord and implore Him; then, when Allah gives them a taste of His mercy, some of them at once begin to associate partners with their Lord.

³⁴So let them go on being ungrateful for the blessings We have given them. Go on, live a little longer; soon enough you will learn the truth!

³⁵Or have We sent down to them a decree instructing them to associate partners with Allah, and is that why they commit shirk?

³⁶Whenever We give people a taste of some blessing, they rejoice in it and grow spoiled; and if some evil befalls them because of what they themselves have done, before you know it they have fallen into despair.

³⁷Do they not see that Allah spreads out provision for those who deserve it and gives it according to a measure? Surely in this there are many lessons for those who believe and trust.

³⁸So see that you give the relative, the poor, and the stranded traveler their due. Know that this is the best course for those who seek to win Allah's good pleasure. It is they who will attain salvation.

³⁹Know that when you give out your wealth under the name of riba/interest, thinking that you will take back more from people's wealth, you are making unjust gain; but it never increases in Allah's sight. As for those who give zakat seeking to win Allah's good pleasure, it is they whose rewards are multiplied many times over with Allah.

⁴⁰It is Allah who created you, then bestowed on you the means of livelihood, and who, when the time comes, will cause you to die and then raise you to life again. Tell me, is there any among those you associate with Him who can do any of these things? Allah is free from all the elements of shirk they associate with Him, and He is most exalted.

⁴¹Because of what people's own hands have wrought, corruption has appeared on land and sea. Allah makes them taste some of the consequences of their evil deeds, so that perhaps they may come to their senses and turn back.

⁴²Say: —Travel through the earth and see what the end of those before you was! Most of them were people who associated partners with Allah.

⁴³So turn with your whole being to this firm and upright religion before that terrible day comes, whose coming none but Allah could prevent. On that day people will be divided into groups.

⁴⁴Whoever covers up the truths will suffer the penalty for his disbelief; but those who do good and beautiful deeds are preparing a very fine future for themselves.

⁴⁵For Allah will reward those who believe and do good and beautiful deeds out of His grace and generosity. And it is a fact that Allah does not love the disbelievers who cover up the truth at all.

⁴⁶Among His proofs is that He sends the winds as heralds of rain, and so gives you a taste of His mercy; that He makes the ships sail by the law He has laid down; and that in this way you seek your share of His grace through trade. Perhaps you will give all these blessings their due and be grateful.

⁴⁷Indeed, before you too We sent many messengers to their own peoples, and they brought them the truth, the clear proofs of reality. In the end We made those who persisted in crime and sin taste the bitter fruit of what they had done. For helping the believers is a duty We have taken upon Ourselves.

⁴⁸It is Allah who sends the winds like messengers to set the clouds in motion, then spreads those clouds in the sky as He wills and breaks them into pieces; and then you see the rain pouring out from between them. When Allah sends down this rain on the lands of whichever of His servants He wills, how they rejoice!

⁴⁹Yet before the rain fell, they were in utter helplessness and despair.

⁵⁰So look at what the rain Allah sends down does. See how He revives the dead earth! Without any doubt Allah will raise the dead to life in the same way. For Allah sets a measure for all things.

⁵¹But if We were to send a scorching wind, and they saw their crops turn yellow and wither, they would at once set about being ungrateful after that.

⁵²It is a fact that you cannot make the dead hear this message, nor can you make the deaf hear your call when they turn their backs and go.

⁵³Nor can you rescue from misguidance and guide to the right path those who have become blind to the truth. You can make your call heard only by the believers who believe and trust in Our verses; it is they who are the Muslims.

⁵⁴It is Allah who first created you as weak and powerless beings, then after this weakness and powerlessness gave you strength and vigor in youth, and after this period of strength and vigor afflicted you again with frailty and old age. For He creates what He creates in accordance with the order He wills. He knows every kind of creation, and He creates in due measure.

⁵⁵And on the day the final Hour arrives, those steeped in crime will swear that they stayed in the world no more than an hour. That is how they used to twist the truth in the world as well.

⁵⁶Those who in the world were equipped with knowledge of the truth and with faith will say: —The fact is that, in accordance with Allah's law, you lived in the world for a time until the day of resurrection; and this is the day of resurrection, but you always pretended not to know this truth.

⁵⁷On that day, neither will the excuses they offer benefit those who wronged themselves and brought ruin upon themselves, nor will their requests for a new chance to please Allah be answered.

⁵⁸Indeed, We have warned people in this Quran by giving every kind of example. And even if you bring them a sign, the disbelievers who cover up the truth will say: —You are only ever busying yourselves with empty and baseless things.

⁵⁹Thus those who persist in failing to understand Allah's truth have sealed their own hearts.

⁶⁰So be patient in your cause; without doubt Allah's promise of help and victory will certainly be fulfilled. And never let those who do not believe wholeheartedly drive you to rash/evil thoughts and actions.