Surah Ghafir English Translation & Transliteration

¹Ha Mim.

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

³He forgives sins and accepts repentance; He is severe in punishment, yet abundant in grace and bounty. There is no god but Him, for the return is to Allah alone.

⁴None dispute Allah's verses and try to render them void but the disbelievers who cover up the truth. Do not let their traveling about from land to land in this world deceive you.

⁵Before them the people of Noah, and the communities that came after them, accused their messengers of lying; indeed, every community plotted to seize its messenger and do away with him, and struggled with all their might, resorting to false means, to render the truth ineffective. But in the end I seized them firmly. Let them see what My punishment was like!

⁶Yes, thus your Lord's judgment against the disbelievers—"They are the people of the Fire"—came true.

⁷Those who bear the throne of Allah's sovereignty and those around it always glorify their Lord with praise. They believe and trust in Him, and they ask forgiveness for the believers, saying: —Our Lord, You encompass all things in mercy and knowledge. So forgive those who turn to You in repentance and follow Your path, and protect them from the burning punishment of Hell!

⁸—Our Lord, admit them, and the good among their forefathers, spouses, and children, into the Gardens of Adn (Eden) that You have promised them. Surely You are possessed of supreme power and decide rightly!

⁹—Protect them from evils, for whomever You protect from evils, You have shown mercy. And that is the greatest salvation.

¹⁰—On that day the disbelievers who cover up the truths will be told: Allah's anger toward you is far greater than the anger you feel toward yourselves today. For you were called to faith, but you would not believe.

¹¹They will say: "Our Lord, You caused us to die twice and gave us life twice. Now we confess our sins. Is there now any way out for us?"

¹²And they will be answered: "This is why you have come to this state: in the world, when you were called to the one Allah, you rejected it, but when partners were associated with Him, you readily accepted it. Now judgment belongs to Allah, the most exalted of all and the greatest of the great."

¹³For it is He who shows you His proofs by sending down provision for you from the sky. But none grasp this except those who turn to Allah.

¹⁴So implore Allah in prayer, devoting your religious life to Him alone, even though the disbelievers dislike it!

¹⁵For He is the Possessor of unattainable heights and of the seat of absolute sovereignty, who by His command conveys this revelation to whomever He wills among His servants, so that they may warn people of the Day of Meeting.

¹⁶On that day they will come forth, and nothing of theirs will be hidden from Allah. Then, on such a day, to whom does absolute sovereignty belong? To Allah, of course, the One, whose power cannot be resisted!

¹⁷On that day everyone will receive the recompense for what they did; yes, on that day no one will be wronged or treated unjustly. For Allah is swift in reckoning.

¹⁸Warn people of that dreadful day which has drawn very near, when hearts will rise to the throat with fear and they will keep choking back. On that day the wrongdoers who persist in error will have neither a devoted friend nor an intercessor who will be heard.

¹⁹For Allah knows the treachery of the eyes and all the secrets that hearts conceal.

²⁰Allah judges with truth and justice. But those they place between themselves and Allah and implore in prayer cannot judge anything. There is no doubt that it is Allah who hears everything and sees everything.

²¹Do they not travel through the land and look at what became of the peoples before them, and take a lesson? They were far stronger than these and left more traces in their lands. But Allah seized them firmly and punished them for the sins they committed, and there was no one to protect them from Allah's punishment.

²²That is how it was. For although their messengers brought them clear evidence, they did not believe. So Allah seized them firmly and punished them. For Allah is strong and most severe in punishment.

²³(23-24) We sent Moses with Our verses, which were clear proofs, to Pharaoh, Qarun, and Haman. They said: "He is a lying sorcerer."

²⁴(23-24) We sent Moses with Our verses, which were clear proofs, to Pharaoh, Qarun, and Haman. They said: "He is a lying sorcerer."

²⁵When Moses conveyed to them the verses revealed from Us, Pharaoh and his men said: —Kill the sons of those who are with Moses and have believed in him, and spare their daughters. But the schemes of these disbelievers were doomed to come to nothing.

²⁶Pharaoh said: —Leave me to kill Moses. Let him go on imploring his Lord. I fear that he will change your religion, and also that he will stir up chaos/corruption in the land by disrupting order.

²⁷Moses said: —I seek refuge in Allah, my Lord/Owner and your Lord, from every tyrant who is arrogant and does not believe in the Day of Reckoning.

²⁸A man from Pharaoh's household who had until then concealed his faith said: —Will you kill a man because he says, "My Lord is Allah"? Yet he has brought you clear proofs from your Lord. If he is lying, he will bear the penalty for his lie. But if he is telling the truth, the punishment he warns you of will befall you. Know that Allah never lets those who overstep the limits and the liars attain their aims.

²⁹O my people, today power in the land is in your hands and you are the strong ones; but if the punishment one day comes upon us, who will help us against Allah's punishment? Pharaoh said: —I am only telling you my own opinion, and I am not leading you to any path but the right one.

³⁰(30-31) The one who believed said: O my people! I fear that a punishment like that which befell the peoples of Noah, Ad, and Thamud, and many peoples after them who came and went before, may one day befall you too. Yet Allah never wishes to wrong His servants or do them injustice.

³¹(30-31) The one who believed said: O my people! I fear that a punishment like that which befell the peoples of Noah, Ad, and Thamud, and many peoples after them who came and went before, may one day befall you too. Yet Allah never wishes to wrong His servants or do them injustice.

³²O my people, I fear for you what will befall you on a day when everyone will cry out.

³³On that day you will try to turn and flee. But no one will save you from Allah's punishment, for there will be no one to guide to the right path the one whose misguidance Allah has confirmed.

³⁴Before this, Joseph too came to you with clear evidence. But you remained in constant doubt about the proofs he brought. At last, when he died, you said: "Allah will never send a messenger after him." Thus Allah leaves in their misguidance those who go to excess and are always in doubt.

³⁵These people keep arguing and talking recklessly about Allah's verses without any proof in their hands. This causes great anger both with Allah and with those who believe. They have acted arrogantly, sealing their hearts against Allah's verses.

³⁶Meanwhile Pharaoh said: O Haman, build me a high tower so that I may find certain ways,

³⁷the ways to reach the heavens. Though I know for certain that he is a liar, who knows—perhaps I may reach the God of Moses. Thus his evil deeds were made attractive to Pharaoh, and he was turned away from the right path. In the end the scheme Pharaoh had devised came to nothing.

³⁸The man who believed said: O my people, follow me, and I will guide you to the right path.

³⁹O my people, do not forget: this worldly life is only a short-term enjoyment. But the Hereafter is the true home, where one settles and stays.

⁴⁰—Whoever does evil will be recompensed only to the extent of the evil he did. But whoever, male or female, does good and beautiful deeds as a believer—these will enter Paradise and there receive blessings beyond measure.

⁴¹O my people, how is it that I call you to salvation while you call me to the Fire?

⁴²—You call me to be ungrateful to Allah and to associate with Him as partners things of which I have no knowledge. Yet I call you to Allah, possessor of infinite power and boundless forgiveness.

⁴³—The truth is that you call me to one who cannot answer prayer, either in this world or in the Hereafter. Yet our final destination is Allah's presence. And those who go to excess are surely the people of the Fire.

⁴⁴—Soon you will understand how true these words I say to you are. I entrust my affair to Allah. Allah surely always watches over His servants.

⁴⁵Allah protected him from the evil of the traps they laid. And an evil punishment engulfed Pharaoh and his family.

⁴⁶That punishment is the torment to which they are exposed morning and evening without end. And on the day the Hour comes, it will be said: "Cast Pharaoh's family into the most severe punishment!"

⁴⁷They will argue with one another in the Fire. The weak masses will say to their arrogant and insolent leaders: —In the world we followed you; can you not now remove even a little of this Fire from us?

⁴⁸The arrogant and insolent leaders will say: —There is no help for it: we are all in the Fire. Allah has already passed His judgment among His servants.

⁴⁹Those burning in the Fire will plead with the keepers of Hell: —Please, pray to your Lord and implore Him to lighten this punishment we suffer, even for a short while.

⁵⁰The keepers will say: —Did your messengers not come to you with clear evidence of the truth? They will say: —Yes, they did. The guards will say: —Then implore Him yourselves. But today the pleas of the disbelievers who cover up the truths are in vain.

⁵¹Have no doubt that We will surely help Our messengers and those who believe in them, both in the life of this world and on the day when the witnesses give testimony.

⁵²On that day the excuses of the wrongdoers who did not believe in Our messengers and Our verses will be of no use. What they deserve is to be cursed and excluded, and condemned to punishment in the worst of places.

⁵³We gave Moses a Book that was a guide to the right path, and We made the Children of Israel heirs to that Book,

⁵⁴a Book that was a guide to the right path and a source of admonition for those of good sense.

⁵⁵So be patient. Do not forget that Allah's promise will surely be fulfilled. Ask Allah's forgiveness for your sin, and proclaim the glory of your Lord with praise, morning and evening.

⁵⁶Those who talk recklessly about Allah's verses without any knowledge or evidence having reached them—in their hearts there is a craving for greatness and superiority that they will never attain or satisfy. So seek refuge in Allah alone. For He hears everything and sees everything.

⁵⁷Indeed, creating the heavens and the earth is a greater and harder task than creating human beings anew. But most people do not know this truth.

⁵⁸Just as the blind and the seeing are not equal, so those who believe and do good and beautiful deeds and those who do evil are not equal either. How little you reflect!

⁵⁹The Hour, the end of this world, will surely come; there is no doubt about it. But most people do not believe this truth.

⁶⁰Your Lord has said: —Pray to Me, and I will answer your prayer. Those who are too proud to worship Me will end up in Hell, humiliated.

⁶¹It is Allah who made the night for you to sleep and rest, and the day for you to attend to your affairs. Allah is surely abundant in grace/generosity toward people. But most people do not give these blessings their due and are not grateful.

⁶²That is Allah, your Lord, the Creator of all things, besides whom there is no god. How, then, are you so deceived?

⁶³Thus were those who knowingly refused to believe in Allah's verses deceived in the past.

⁶⁴It is Allah who made the earth fit for you to live on and the sky a canopy over you like a dome, who shaped you—and gave you the finest shape—and who has bestowed on you clean and good provision. Such is Allah, your Lord! How exalted is Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and what a great source of blessing!

⁶⁵He is the Ever-Living. There is no god but Him. So implore Allah in prayer, purified (of shirk), devoting your religion to Him alone. All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

⁶⁶Say: —Ever since clear evidence of the truth/the Quran came to me from my Lord, I have been strictly forbidden to serve those you serve besides Allah. And I have been commanded to submit unconditionally to the Lord of the worlds.

⁶⁷It is He who created you first from soil, then from sperm, then from an embryo, and then brings you forth as a child so that you may grow strong and later grow old. Some of you die before that. This is so that you may reach a stated term, and so that you may use your reason.

⁶⁸For it is Allah who gives life and Allah who causes death. For when He decrees a matter, He only says to it "Be," and it at once begins to be.

⁶⁹Do you not see the state of those who argue and talk recklessly about Allah's verses? How they turn away from the truth/the Quran!

⁷⁰Those who cling to lies in the face of this Book/the Quran and the revelations We sent with Our earlier messengers will soon learn the truth.

⁷¹(71-72) Then, with iron rings and chains around their necks, they will be dragged into boiling water and burned in the Fire.

⁷²(71-72) Then, with iron rings and chains around their necks, they will be dragged into boiling water and burned in the Fire.

⁷³(73-74) Then they will be told: —Where now are those you placed between yourselves and Allah and implored in prayer, associating them with Him as partners? They will say: —They have abandoned us and gone; so those we implored in the world were nothing at all. Thus Allah leaves the disbelievers who cover up the truths bewildered and helpless, they say.

⁷⁴(73-74) Then they will be told: —Where now are those you placed between yourselves and Allah and implored in prayer, associating them with Him as partners? They will say: —They have abandoned us and gone; so those we implored in the world were nothing at all. Thus Allah leaves the disbelievers who cover up the truths bewildered and helpless, they say.

⁷⁵This is because, while in the world, you were arrogant, exultant, and insolent, with no regard for anyone's rights.

⁷⁶Come, enter the gates of Hell, to remain there. What a wretched place it is for those who strut in insolence!

⁷⁷So be patient, for Allah's promise will surely be fulfilled. What difference does it make whether We show you the punishment We promised them befalling them, or take your life before showing it? In any case, they will surely be brought before Us and give account.

⁷⁸Indeed, We sent many messengers before you. Some of their stories We have told you, and some We have not. It is a fact that no messenger can bring any sign except by Allah's leave/law. When Allah's command of punishment comes, the truth is established, and then those who sought to make falsehood prevail meet their end in destruction and loss.

⁷⁹It is Allah who created domestic animals and placed them at your service, so that you may ride some of them and benefit from the meat of others.

⁸⁰And in those animals there are many other benefits for you. With them you reach the places your hearts desire. On land you travel on them, and at sea on ships.

⁸¹Thus He lays the proofs of His power before your eyes. Tell me, which of Allah's proofs can you deny?

⁸²Do they not travel from land to land and look, with an eye to taking a lesson, at what became of the peoples before them? They were stronger than these and left more traces in those lands. But the power and wealth they possessed were of no use to them.

⁸³For when their messengers came to them with clear evidence of the truth, they grew exultant, relying on the knowledge they had, and in the end the punishment they belittled and mocked closed in on them from every side.

⁸⁴But when they saw Our punishment, they said: —We believe in Allah, the One alone, and we now reject the partners we associated with Him.

⁸⁵But their believing when they saw Our punishment was of no use to them. For this is Allah's sunnah/law, which He has always applied to His servants. There and then the disbelievers who cover up the truths lost everything.