Surah Al-A'raf, Ayah 121-140 — Word by Word
الأعراف
The Heights
Explanations are simplified from tafsirs by Ibn Kathir, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Spot an inaccuracy? Let us know.
qālū āmannā birabbi l-ʿālamīna
They said, "We have believed in the Lord of the worlds,
rabbi mūsā wahārūna
The Lord of Moses and Aaron."
qāla fir'ʿawnu āmantum bihi qabla an ādhana lakum inna hādhā lamakrun makartumūhu fī l-madīnati litukh'rijū min'hā ahlahā fasawfa taʿlamūna
Said Pharaoh, "You believed in him before I gave you permission. Indeed, this is a conspiracy which you conspired in the city to expel therefrom its people. But you are going to know.
la-uqaṭṭiʿanna aydiyakum wa-arjulakum min khilāfin thumma la-uṣallibannakum ajmaʿīna
I will surely cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides; then I will surely crucify you all."
qālū innā ilā rabbinā munqalibūna
They said, "Indeed, to our Lord we will return.
wamā tanqimu minnā illā an āmannā biāyāti rabbinā lammā jāatnā rabbanā afrigh ʿalaynā ṣabran watawaffanā mus'limīna
And you do not resent us except because we believed in the signs of our Lord when they came to us. Our Lord, pour upon us patience and let us die as Muslims [in submission to You]."
waqāla l-mala-u min qawmi fir'ʿawna atadharu mūsā waqawmahu liyuf'sidū fī l-arḍi wayadharaka waālihataka qāla sanuqattilu abnāahum wanastaḥyī nisāahum wa-innā fawqahum qāhirūna
And the eminent among the people of Pharaoh said, "Will you leave Moses and his people to cause corruption in the land and abandon you and your gods?" [Pharaoh] said, "We will kill their sons and keep their women alive; and indeed, we are subjugators over them."
qāla mūsā liqawmihi is'taʿīnū bil-lahi wa-iṣ'birū inna l-arḍa lillahi yūrithuhā man yashāu min ʿibādihi wal-ʿāqibatu lil'muttaqīna
Said Moses to his people, "Seek help through Allāh and be patient. Indeed, the earth belongs to Allāh. He causes to inherit it whom He wills of His servants. And the [best] outcome is for the righteous."
qālū ūdhīnā min qabli an tatiyanā wamin baʿdi mā ji'tanā qāla ʿasā rabbukum an yuh'lika ʿaduwwakum wayastakhlifakum fī l-arḍi fayanẓura kayfa taʿmalūna
They said, "We have been harmed before you came to us and after you have come to us." He said, "Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and grant you succession in the land and see how you will do."
walaqad akhadhnā āla fir'ʿawna bil-sinīna wanaqṣin mina l-thamarāti laʿallahum yadhakkarūna
And We certainly seized the people of Pharaoh with years of famine and a deficiency in fruits that perhaps they would be reminded.
fa-idhā jāathumu l-ḥasanatu qālū lanā hādhihi wa-in tuṣib'hum sayyi-atun yaṭṭayyarū bimūsā waman maʿahu alā innamā ṭāiruhum ʿinda l-lahi walākinna aktharahum lā yaʿlamūna
But when good [i.e., provision] came to them, they said, "This is ours [by right]." And if a bad [condition] struck them, they saw an evil omen in Moses and those with him. Unquestionably, their fortune is with Allāh, but most of them do not know.
waqālū mahmā tatinā bihi min āyatin litasḥaranā bihā famā naḥnu laka bimu'minīna
And they said, "No matter what sign you bring us with which to bewitch us, we will not be believers in you."
fa-arsalnā ʿalayhimu l-ṭūfāna wal-jarāda wal-qumala wal-ḍafādiʿa wal-dama āyātin mufaṣṣalātin fa-is'takbarū wakānū qawman muj'rimīna
So We sent upon them the flood and locusts and lice and frogs and blood as distinct signs, but they were arrogant and were a criminal people.
walammā waqaʿa ʿalayhimu l-rij'zu qālū yāmūsā ud'ʿu lanā rabbaka bimā ʿahida ʿindaka la-in kashafta ʿannā l-rij'za lanu'minanna laka walanur'silanna maʿaka banī is'rāīla
And when the punishment descended upon them, they said, "O Moses, invoke for us your Lord by what He has promised you. If you [can] remove the punishment from us, we will surely believe you, and we will send with you the Children of Israel."
falammā kashafnā ʿanhumu l-rij'za ilā ajalin hum bālighūhu idhā hum yankuthūna
But when We removed the punishment from them until a term which they were to reach, then at once they broke their word.
fa-intaqamnā min'hum fa-aghraqnāhum fī l-yami bi-annahum kadhabū biāyātinā wakānū ʿanhā ghāfilīna
So We took retribution from them, and We drowned them in the sea because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them.
wa-awrathnā l-qawma alladhīna kānū yus'taḍʿafūna mashāriqa l-arḍi wamaghāribahā allatī bāraknā fīhā watammat kalimatu rabbika l-ḥus'nā ʿalā banī is'rāīla bimā ṣabarū wadammarnā mā kāna yaṣnaʿu fir'ʿawnu waqawmuhu wamā kānū yaʿrishūna
And We caused the people who had been oppressed to inherit the eastern regions of the land and the western ones, which We had blessed. And the good word [i.e., decree] of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel because of what they had patiently endured. And We destroyed [all] that Pharaoh and his people were producing and what they had been building.
wajāwaznā bibanī is'rāīla l-baḥra fa-ataw ʿalā qawmin yaʿkufūna ʿalā aṣnāmin lahum qālū yāmūsā ij'ʿal lanā ilāhan kamā lahum ālihatun qāla innakum qawmun tajhalūna
And We took the Children of Israel across the sea; then they came upon a people intent in devotion to [some] idols of theirs. They [the Children of Israel] said, "O Moses, make for us a god just as they have gods." He said, "Indeed, you are a people behaving ignorantly.
inna hāulāi mutabbarun mā hum fīhi wabāṭilun mā kānū yaʿmalūna
Indeed, those [worshippers] - destroyed is that in which they are [engaged], and worthless is whatever they were doing."
qāla aghayra l-lahi abghīkum ilāhan wahuwa faḍḍalakum ʿalā l-ʿālamīna
He said, "Is it other than Allāh I should desire for you as a god while He has preferred you over the worlds?"