النمل
The Ant
Explanations are simplified from tafsirs by Ibn Kathir, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Spot an inaccuracy? Let us know.
amman jaʿala l-arḍa qarāran wajaʿala khilālahā anhāran wajaʿala lahā rawāsiya wajaʿala bayna l-baḥrayni ḥājizan a-ilāhun maʿa l-lahi bal aktharuhum lā yaʿlamūna
Is He [not best] who made the earth a stable ground and placed within it rivers and made for it firmly set mountains and placed between the two seas a barrier? Is there a deity with Allāh? [No], but most of them do not know.
amman yujību l-muḍ'ṭara idhā daʿāhu wayakshifu l-sūa wayajʿalukum khulafāa l-arḍi a-ilāhun maʿa l-lahi qalīlan mā tadhakkarūna
Is He [not best] who responds to the desperate one when he calls upon Him and removes evil and makes you inheritors of the earth? Is there a deity with Allāh? Little do you remember.
amman yahdīkum fī ẓulumāti l-bari wal-baḥri waman yur'silu l-riyāḥa bush'ran bayna yaday raḥmatihi a-ilāhun maʿa l-lahi taʿālā l-lahu ʿammā yush'rikūna
Is He [not best] who guides you through the darknesses of the land and sea and who sends the winds as good tidings before His mercy? Is there a deity with Allāh? High is Allāh above whatever they associate with Him.
amman yabda-u l-khalqa thumma yuʿīduhu waman yarzuqukum mina l-samāi wal-arḍi a-ilāhun maʿa l-lahi qul hātū bur'hānakum in kuntum ṣādiqīna
Is He [not best] who begins creation and then repeats it and who provides for you from the heaven and earth? Is there a deity with Allāh? Say, "Produce your proof, if you should be truthful."
qul lā yaʿlamu man fī l-samāwāti wal-arḍi l-ghayba illā l-lahu wamā yashʿurūna ayyāna yub'ʿathūna
Say, "None in the heavens and earth knows the unseen except Allāh, and they do not perceive when they will be resurrected."
bali iddāraka ʿil'muhum fī l-ākhirati bal hum fī shakkin min'hā bal hum min'hā ʿamūna
Rather, their knowledge is arrested concerning the Hereafter. Rather, they are in doubt about it. Rather, they are, concerning it, blind.
waqāla alladhīna kafarū a-idhā kunnā turāban waābāunā a-innā lamukh'rajūna
And those who disbelieve say, "When we have become dust as well as our forefathers, will we indeed be brought out [of the graves]?
laqad wuʿid'nā hādhā naḥnu waābāunā min qablu in hādhā illā asāṭīru l-awalīna
We have been promised this, we and our forefathers, before. This is not but legends of the former peoples."
qul sīrū fī l-arḍi fa-unẓurū kayfa kāna ʿāqibatu l-muj'rimīna
Say, [O Muḥammad], "Proceed [i.e., travel] through the land and observe how was the end of the criminals."
walā taḥzan ʿalayhim walā takun fī ḍayqin mimmā yamkurūna
And grieve not over them or be in distress from what they conspire.
wayaqūlūna matā hādhā l-waʿdu in kuntum ṣādiqīna
And they say, "When is [the fulfillment of] this promise, if you should be truthful?"
qul ʿasā an yakūna radifa lakum baʿḍu alladhī tastaʿjilūna
Say, "Perhaps it is close behind you [i.e., very near] - some of that for which you are impatient.
wa-inna rabbaka ladhū faḍlin ʿalā l-nāsi walākinna aktharahum lā yashkurūna
And indeed, your Lord is the possessor of bounty for the people, but most of them are not grateful."
wa-inna rabbaka layaʿlamu mā tukinnu ṣudūruhum wamā yuʿ'linūna
And indeed, your Lord knows what their breasts conceal and what they declare.
wamā min ghāibatin fī l-samāi wal-arḍi illā fī kitābin mubīnin
And there is nothing concealed within the heaven and the earth except that it is in a clear Register.
inna hādhā l-qur'āna yaquṣṣu ʿalā banī is'rāīla akthara alladhī hum fīhi yakhtalifūna
Indeed, this Qur’ān relates to the Children of Israel most of that over which they disagree.
wa-innahu lahudan waraḥmatun lil'mu'minīna
And indeed, it is guidance and mercy for the believers.
inna rabbaka yaqḍī baynahum biḥuk'mihi wahuwa l-ʿazīzu l-ʿalīmu
Indeed, your Lord will judge between them by His [wise] judgement. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.
fatawakkal ʿalā l-lahi innaka ʿalā l-ḥaqi l-mubīni
So rely upon Allāh; indeed, you are upon the clear truth.
innaka lā tus'miʿu l-mawtā walā tus'miʿu l-ṣuma l-duʿāa idhā wallaw mud'birīna
Indeed, you will not make the dead hear, nor will you make the deaf hear the call when they have turned their backs retreating.