الشعراء
The Poets
Explanations are simplified from tafsirs by Ibn Kathir, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Spot an inaccuracy? Let us know.
hal unabbi-ukum ʿalā man tanazzalu l-shayāṭīnu
Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend?
tanazzalu ʿalā kulli affākin athīmin
They descend upon every sinful liar.
yul'qūna l-samʿa wa-aktharuhum kādhibūna
They pass on what is heard, and most of them are liars.
wal-shuʿarāu yattabiʿuhumu l-ghāwūna
And the poets - [only] the deviators follow them;
alam tara annahum fī kulli wādin yahīmūna
Do you not see that in every valley they roam
wa-annahum yaqūlūna mā lā yafʿalūna
And that they say what they do not do? -
illā alladhīna āmanū waʿamilū l-ṣāliḥāti wadhakarū l-laha kathīran wa-intaṣarū min baʿdi mā ẓulimū wasayaʿlamu alladhīna ẓalamū ayya munqalabin yanqalibūna
Except those [poets] who believe and do righteous deeds and remember Allāh often and defend [the Muslims] after they were wronged. And those who have wronged are going to know to what [kind of] return they will be returned.