Surah Muhammad English Translation & Transliteration

¹Allah will bring to nothing all the deeds of the disbelievers who cover up the truth and lead others astray from Allah's path.

²In contrast, as for those who believe and do good and beautiful deeds, and who believe and trust in the Quran sent down to Muhammad as the truth from their Lord, He will cover over their evil deeds and set their state right.

³This will be so because the disbelievers have followed falsehood, while the believers have followed the Quran, the truth that has come from their Lord. That is how Allah makes clear the difference between disbelievers and believers.

⁴When you meet in battle those who persist in disbelief, strike their necks! Then, when you have gained a crushing superiority over them, bind the rest tightly and take them captive. Afterwards, release them either freely or for ransom. Do this so that the disbelievers no longer have the strength to make war on you. Had Allah willed, He could have punished them without fighting; but He wanted to test you by making you fight one another. Allah will never let the efforts of those who fight in His way go to waste.

⁵He will show them the right path and set their state right,

⁶and in the end He will settle them in the Paradise He has made known to them.

⁷O you who believe, if you help Allah's cause, He will help you and make you strong and steadfast.

⁸As for the disbelievers, what they deserve is ruin and destruction; and Allah will bring all their efforts to nothing.

⁹For they disliked the Quran that Allah sent down. That is why the good deeds they did have been rendered void.

¹⁰Have they never traveled through these lands and looked at what the end was of the communities that passed away before them, and taken a lesson? Allah razed them to the ground. And a similar end awaits these disbelievers too.

¹¹For Allah is the Patron (Mawla) of the believers alone. As for the disbelievers, they have no patron and no helper.

¹²Surely Allah will settle those who believe and do good and beautiful deeds in gardens beneath which rivers flow. Let the disbelievers who cover up the truth enjoy the blessings of this world a while longer, and eat and drink as cattle eat and drink; in any case, they will end up in the Fire.

¹³How many towns, stronger and mightier than those who drove you out of your homeland, have We destroyed, and there was no one to help them!

¹⁴Can one who stands on the Quran, a clear proof that has come from his Lord, be equal to one whose evil deeds seem attractive to him and who therefore follows his desires and whims?

¹⁵The Paradise promised to the God-conscious (muttaqin), who guard themselves against sin, is like this: in it flow rivers of water whose taste never spoils, rivers of milk whose taste never changes, rivers of fruit juice that fill those who drink with delight, and rivers of strained honey. And there they have fruits and foods of every kind. Moreover, they will taste the happiness of having been forgiven by their Lord. Can such people be equal to one who will remain in the Fire and be given boiling water to drink that tears his bowels apart?

¹⁶Among them are some who appear to be listening to you. But when they leave your presence, they ask those who have been given knowledge of revelation mockingly: "What was it he said just now?" These are the ones who have closed their hearts to Allah's revelation and followed their desires and whims.

¹⁷As for those who are on the right path, Allah strengthens their faith and so enables them to guard themselves against sin and not to follow their desires and whims.

¹⁸What, then, are they waiting for, but that the Hour, the end of this world, should come upon them suddenly? Yet they keep seeing all its signs before them. But when that inescapable final Hour comes upon them, what use will it be to them to have understood the truth?

¹⁹So know well that there is no god but Allah. Ask Allah's forgiveness for your own sin and for the sins of believing men and women. Allah knows well both where you move about and where you come to rest.

²⁰Those who believe say: —If only a surah permitting war against the disbelievers had been sent down. But if a decisive surah containing fighting were sent down, you would see those in whose hearts there is sickness looking at you, faint with fear, like one on his deathbed. Yet what would befit them in such a situation is

²¹obedience to the command and good words. But when the matter of fighting became decisive, they did not behave so. Yet had they stayed true to the word they gave Allah, it would have been better for them.

²²Do you realize that your running away from battle will lead to the land's being overrun and corrupted and to the severing of ties of kinship?

²³Such people are those who do not want to hear with their ears or see with their eyes, and who therefore deserve Allah's curse and are far removed from His mercy.

²⁴Do they not, then, reflect on the Quran properly, or is their reason in eclipse?

²⁵Those who turn their backs on the Quran, even though the rightness of the path it shows has become perfectly clear to them, are the ones whom the devils have deceived and lulled with vain hopes.

²⁶That is why they went to those who hate the Quran that Allah sent down and said: —We can cooperate with you in certain matters. Yet Allah knows all their secret dealings.

²⁷And how will it be with them when the angels come to take their souls, striking their faces and their backs?

²⁸For they did things that bring on Allah's wrath and detested everything that pleases Allah. So Allah has brought all their deeds to nothing.

²⁹Or did those in whose hearts there is sickness think that Allah would not bring their rancor to light?

³⁰Had We willed, We would have shown them to you one by one, and you would have recognized them by their looks. And you already recognize them by their manner and style of speech. Do not forget that Allah knows everything you do.

³¹Indeed, We will test you, and all your claims too, until We bring to light those among you who strive with all their might in Allah's way and who stand firm and are patient in their cause.

³²The disbelievers who oppose the Messenger and lead people astray from Allah's path after the right path has become perfectly clear to them will not be able to harm Allah in any way. For Allah will bring all their schemes to nothing.

³³O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger who conveys Allah's messages. Do not cause your deeds to go to waste through disobedience.

³⁴There is no doubt that as for the disbelievers who cover up the truth, lead people astray from Allah's path, and in the end die as disbelievers, Allah will never forgive them.

³⁵Never show weakness in battle. If you have the upper hand, call for peace! For Allah is with you. He will never let any of your efforts go to waste.

³⁶The life of this world is nothing but play and amusement. If you believe wholeheartedly and are mindful about spending in Allah's way, He will give you your reward. And He is not asking you for all your wealth.

³⁷Were Allah to press you by asking for all your wealth, you would certainly be stingy, and He would thus have exposed your ill feelings.

³⁸Now you are being called to spend for jihad in Allah's way. Some among you are being stingy. Whoever is stingy, let him know well that it is to his own detriment. Besides, Allah has no need of your wealth and property; on the contrary, it is you who depend on Him for all your needs. If you turn away from Allah's commands, He will bring another people in your place, and they will not be like you.