Surah Fussilat English Translation & Transliteration

¹Ha Mim.

²This Quran has been sent down from Allah, whose mercy is infinite and whose compassion is boundless.

³It has been sent down as an Arabic Quran whose verses are explained in detail for a people who can understand,

⁴as a Book containing good news and warnings. Yet most of them turn away from this Quran and do not listen.

⁵And they say: "Our knowledge and understanding are closed to what you call us to, and in our ears there is heaviness/we are in no state to listen to you. For between you and us there is a barrier. So you mind your business, and we will mind ours."

⁶Say: —Yes, I am only a human being like you. But it is revealed to me that your God is one God. So turn to Him alone and ask His forgiveness for your sins. Otherwise, woe to those who associate partners with Allah,

⁷who do not give the zakat, for they do not believe and trust in the Hereafter.

⁸But for those who believe and do good and beautiful deeds, there are rewards that never end.

⁹Say: —Do you disbelieve in the One who created the earth in two stages, and set up others as equal to Allah? Yet He is the Lord/Owner of the worlds.

¹⁰Allah riveted the earth with firm and steady mountains and made it blessed and habitable. So that living creatures could meet their wants and needs, He established an order on it in four stages in all (together with the earlier two).

¹¹Meanwhile He turned to the sky, which was still in a gaseous state, and said to it and to the earth: —Submit to My laws, willingly or unwillingly! They said: —We submit to Your laws willingly.

¹²So Allah arranged the heavens as seven layers in two stages, and made known to each layer its own law of duty. And We adorned the nearest, worldly sky with stars and set up a system of protection. This is the order established by Allah, who is perfect in all He does and knows all things.

¹³If, despite all these truths, they turn away, say to them: —I warn you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt that destroyed the peoples of Ad and Thamud.

¹⁴Yet their messengers had come to them and, using every means of persuasion, warned them: "Serve nothing but Allah." But they replied: "Had our Lord willed, He would have sent angels as messengers. So we reject the belief you proclaim."

¹⁵The people of Ad acted arrogantly in the land with no regard for anyone's rights, and defiantly said: —Who is stronger than we are? They never considered that Allah, who created them, was stronger than they, and they knowingly refused to believe in Allah's verses.

¹⁶In the end We sent upon them a freezing whirlwind in those ill-fated days. Thus We made them taste a humiliating punishment in the life of this world. Their punishment in the Hereafter will be even more humiliating, and they will receive help from no one.

¹⁷As for Thamud, We had shown them the right path too. But they preferred blindness to the right path. Because of what they did, the shock of a humiliating punishment seized them.

¹⁸But We saved those who believed and guarded themselves against defying Allah.

¹⁹On that day the enemies of Allah will be gathered and driven together to the Fire.

²⁰When they reach the Fire, their ears, their eyes, and their skins will bear witness against them about what they did.

²¹They will ask their skins: —Why did you bear witness against us? Their skins will answer: —Allah, who makes all things speak, has made us speak. It was He who created you the first time, and now you are brought before Him to give account.

²²In the past you did not guard yourselves, because you did not believe that your ears, your eyes, and your skins would bear witness against you. Moreover, you thought that Allah did not know much of what you did.

²³This false notion of yours about your Lord has driven you to destruction, and in the end you have become among the losers.

²⁴Now, whether they endure it or not, the Fire is their place. And if they ask to return to do deeds that would please Allah, their request will never be granted.

²⁵Certain companions under whose control they fell made their evil deeds, past and future, look good to them. In the end the word that came true for the communities of jinn and humans before them came true for them too. Without a doubt, they thus became among the losers.

²⁶The disbelievers who cover up the truths had said: —Do not listen to this Quran, and make noise while it is being recited, so that you prevent it from being understood.

²⁷So We will make those disbelievers taste a most severe punishment, and punish them for the worst of the sins they committed.

²⁸Thus the punishment of Allah's enemies is the Fire! Because they knowingly refused to believe in Our verses, Hell will be their abiding home.

²⁹The disbelievers who cover up the truths will cry out: —Our Lord, show us, we beg You, the jinn and humans who led us astray, so that we may trample them underfoot and they may be the lowest of all today!

³⁰But as for those who say "Our Lord is Allah" and then remain upright, angels come to them with the good news: —Do not be afraid, do not grieve, and rejoice in the Paradise you were promised.

³¹—We are with you as your friends in the Hereafter, just as in the life of this world. In Paradise there is everything your souls desire, and everything you ask for is at your command.

³²—All this is a gift of hospitality from Allah, who is matchless in forgiveness and possesses infinite mercy.

³³Who could be finer in speech than one who says, "I am one of the Muslims," does good and beautiful deeds, and calls people to Allah alone?

³⁴Good and evil are never equal. Repel evil in the finest way, and see: the one between whom and you there was enmity becomes a sincere and close friend.

³⁵Only those who persevere in patience can attain such a virtue. Yes, only those of high morals and virtue can attain it.

³⁶If people of satanic nature try your patience and incite you to evil thoughts and conduct, seek refuge in Allah at once. For He hears everything and knows everything.

³⁷The night and the day, the sun and the moon, are among the proofs pointing to Allah's power. If you truly wish to serve Allah alone, prostrate not to the sun or the moon but to Allah, their Creator.

³⁸If they grow arrogant and boastful, let them know well that those who are with your Lord proclaim His greatness and glorify Him night and day without tiring.

³⁹And one of His signs/proofs is this: when We send down rain on this parched earth you see, it at once stirs and swells. He who gives life to dead earth in this way will surely raise the dead too. For He is the One who sets a measure for all things.

⁴⁰Those who turn away from the truths Our proofs show can never hide from Us or escape. Tell me, who is better: one who is cast into the Fire on the Day of Resurrection, or one who comes before Us in safety on that day? Do as you please; Allah sees all that you do in any case.

⁴¹Let those who do not believe in this divine warning that has come to them know well that this Quran is an exalted and matchless Book.

⁴²For falsehood can approach it in no way, neither from before it nor from behind it. For it has been sent down from Allah, whose every judgment is right and who is worthy of all praise.

⁴³These accusations made against you are no different from those made against the messengers before you. Do not forget that your Lord is the Possessor of infinite forgiveness, but also the Possessor of a painful punishment.

⁴⁴Had We sent down this Quran in a language other than Arabic, they would have said this time: —Why are its verses not clear and understandable? A book in a foreign tongue for an Arab? Say: —This Quran is a guide and a healing for those who believe and trust in it; but those who do not believe and trust in it have a weight of lead in their ears, and so this message seems incomprehensible to them. They are like someone called from a great distance who understands nothing of what is said.

⁴⁵Indeed, We gave Moses the Book, and people disagreed about it too. Had it not been for an earlier ruling of your Lord concerning postponement, their affair would long since have been settled. Without any doubt, they are in deep doubt about this Quran.

⁴⁶So whoever does good and beautiful deeds does so for his own good. And whoever does evil does it to his own detriment. For your Lord is not one to wrong His servants or do them injustice.

⁴⁷Knowledge of when the Hour, the end of this world, will come rests with Allah alone. For no fruit comes out of its husk, and no female conceives or gives birth, except with His knowledge. On the day Allah calls out to them: —Where are My partners? they will say: —We must confess that there is none among us who would acknowledge that You have partners.

⁴⁸For those they used to implore in prayer have vanished from them. And they have realized that there is no escape left.

⁴⁹The human being never tires of asking for wealth and property. But when hardship befalls him, he loses hope and falls into despair.

⁵⁰But when, after that hardship has befallen him, We give him plenty and ease from Us, he insolently goes so far as to say: —This is my due anyway; besides, I do not think that the Hour, the end and breakup of this world, will come. And if I am brought before my Lord, I have no doubt that the finest reward awaits me with Him. But We will inform these disbelievers who cover up the truths of the sins they committed, one by one, and make them taste the heaviest punishment.

⁵¹Whenever We bestow a favor/kindness on this human being, he turns away, growing insolent and exultant; but when he falls into hardship, he keeps imploring in prayer.

⁵²Say: —Consider: if this Quran is from Allah, and yet you have refused to believe in it, then who could be more astray than one who has gone so far from the truth/the Quran?

⁵³In due time We will show them all Our signs/indications, both within themselves and in the world around them, until it becomes clear to everyone that this divine message, the Quran, is the indisputable truth. Is it not enough for them that your Lord bears witness that all this will come to pass?

⁵⁴Take note: they are in deep doubt about meeting their Lord! Do not forget that Allah encompasses all things with His boundless knowledge.