The Quran (English translation)

Contents
The Quran
Sura 1, The Opening (Al-Fatiha)
Sura 2, The Cow (Al-Baqara)
Sura 3, The Family of ʿImran (Al ʿImran)
Sura 4, Women (Al-Nisa)
Sura 5, The Table Spread (Al-Maʾida)
Sura 6, Cattle (Al-Anʿam)
Sura 7, The Heights (Al-Aʿraf)
Sura 8, The Spoils of War (Al-Anfal)
Sura 9, Repentance (Al-Tawba)
Sura 10, Jonah (Yunus)
Sura 11, Hud (Hud)
Sura 12, Joseph (Yusuf)
Sura 13, Thunder (Al-Raʿd)
Sura 14, Abraham (Ibrahim)
Sura 15, The Rocky Plain (Al-Hijr)
Sura 16, The Bee (Al-Nahl)
Sura 17, The Night Journey (Al-Israʾ)
Sura 18, The Cave (Al-Kahf)
Sura 19, Mary (Maryam)
Sura 20, Ta Ha (Ta Ha)
Sura 21, The Prophets (Al-Anbiyaʾ)
Sura 22, The Pilgrimage (Al-Hajj)
Sura 23, The Believers (Al-Muʾminun)
Sura 24, Light (Al-Nur)
Sura 25, The Criterion (Al-Furqan)
Sura 26, The Poets (Al-Shuʿara)
Sura 27, The Ants (Al-Naml)
Sura 28, The Story (Al-Qasas)
Sura 29, The Spider (Al-ʿAnkabut)
Sura 30, The Byzantines (Al-Rum)
Sura 31, Luqman (Luqman)
Sura 32, Prostration (Al-Sajda)
Sura 33, The Allied Forces (Al-Ahzab)
Sura 34, Sheba (Sabaʾ)
Sura 35, The Originator (Fatir)
Sura 36, Ya Sin (Ya Sin)
Sura 37, Arrayed in Ranks (Al-Saffat)
Sura 38, Sad (Sad)
Sura 39, The Crowds (Al-Zumar)
Sura 40, The Forgiving (Al-Ghafir)
Sura 41, Explained in Full (Fussilat)
Sura 42, Consultation (Al-Shura)
Sura 43, Gold Adornments (Al-Zukhruf)
Sura 44, Smoke (Al-Dukhan)
Sura 45, Kneeling (Al-Jathiya)
Sura 46, Sand Dunes (Al-Ahqaf)
Sura 47, Muhammad (Muhammad)
Sura 48, Victory (Al-Fath)
Sura 49, The Private Apartments (Al-Hujurat)
Sura 50, Qaf (Qaf)
Sura 51, Scattering Winds (Al-Dhariyat)
Sura 52, Mount Sinai (Al-Tur)
Sura 53, The Star (Al-Najm)
Sura 54, The Moon (Al-Qamar)
Sura 55, The All Merciful (Al-Rahman)
Sura 56, The Inexorable Event (Al-Waqiʿa)
Sura 57, Iron (Al-Hadid)
Sura 58, The Woman Who Pleads (Al-Mujadila)
Sura 59, The Gathering (Al-Hashr)
Sura 60, The Woman Tested (Al-Mumtahana)
Sura 61, In Ranks (Al-Saff)
Sura 62, The Friday Prayer (Al-Jumuʿa)
Sura 63, The Hypocrites (Al-Munafiqun)
Sura 64, Mutual Fraud (Al-Taghabun)
Sura 65, Divorce (Al-Talaq)
Sura 66, Prohibition (Al-Tahrim)
Sura 67, Dominion (Al-Mulk)
Sura 68, The Pen (Al-Qalam)
Sura 69, Reality (Al-Haqqa)
Sura 70, The Paths of Ascent (Al-Maʿarij)
Sura 71, Noah (Nuh)
Sura 72, The Jinn (Al-Jinn)
Sura 73, The One Enwrapped (Al-Muzzammil)
Sura 74, The One Enfolded (Al-Muddaththir)
Sura 75, Resurrection (Al-Qiyama)
Sura 76, Humankind (Al-Insan)
Sura 77, Those Sent Out (Al-Mursalat)
Sura 78, The Announcement (Al-Nabaʾ)
Sura 79, Those Who Force Out (Al-Naziʿat)
Sura 80, He Frowned (ʿAbasa)
Sura 81, The Folding Up (Al-Takwir)
Sura 82, The Cleaving Asunder (Al-Infitar)
Sura 83, Those Who Defraud (Al-Mutaffifin)
Sura 84, The Splitting Asunder (Al-Inshiqaq)
Sura 85, The Constellations (Al-Buruj)
Sura 86, The Night Traveler (Al-Tariq)
Sura 87, The Most High (Al-Aʿla)
Sura 88, The Overshadowing Event (Al-Ghashiya)
Sura 89, The Breaking Dawn (Al-Fajr)
Sura 90, The City (Al-Balad)
Sura 91, The Sun (Al-Shams)
Sura 92, Night (Al-Layl)
Sura 93, Morning Light (Al-Duha)
Sura 94, The Broadening (Al-Sharh)
Sura 95, The Fig (Al-Tin)
Sura 96, Clot of Blood (Al-ʿAlaq)
Sura 97, The Night of Decree (Al-Qadr)
Sura 98, Clear Proof (Al-Bayyina)
Sura 99, The Earthquake (Al-Zalzala)
Sura 100, Racing Steeds (Al-ʿAdiyat)
Sura 101, The Thundering Calamity (Al-Qariʿa)
Sura 102, Competing for Worldly Gain (Al-Takathur)
Sura 103, Time (Al-ʿAsr)
Sura 104, The Backbiter (Al-Humaza)
Sura 105, The Elephant (Al-Fil)
Sura 106, Quraysh (Quraysh)
Sura 107, Small Kindnesses (Al-Maʿun)
Sura 108, Abundance (Al-Kawthar)
Sura 109, Those Who Disbelieve (Al-Kafirun)
Sura 110, Help (Al-Nasr)
Sura 111, The Palm Fiber (Al-Masad)
Sura 112, Unity/Sincerity (Al-Ikhlas)
Sura 113, The Dawn (Al-Falaq)
Sura 114, Humankind (Al-Nas)
Acknowledgments
Glossary
The Beautiful Names of God
Notes
Introduction

The Quran A Verse Translation M. A. R. Habib and Bruce B. Lawrence

The Quran

SURA 1
The Opening (Al-Fatiha)
Some scholars suggest that the opening sura is also known as umm al-kitab, the Mother of the Book, and sabʿan min al-mathani, the often repeated seven (verses). One of the earliest revelations, it accents the divine attributes of mercy and might, guidance and judgment in succinct, lyrical form.
1In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful°
2All praise° be to God,
Lord of the universe;°
3The All Merciful,
Ever Merciful;
4Ruler of the day
of reckoning.°
5You alone we worship;°
and You alone
we implore for help.
6Guide us to the straight path,
7the path of those
whom You have favored,
not of those
who have incurred Your° wrath,
nor of those
who have gone astray.

SURA 2
The Cow (Al-Baqara)
The longest sura, it numbers 286 verses and is named “The Cow,” designated by God as a sacrificial offering (vv. 67–73). Revealed in Medina, it relates to several prophets, Adam, Moses, and Abraham, with Abraham’s home in Mecca depicted as God’s house. Detailed instructions cover food, fasting, almsgiving, and prayer but also address fighting, retaliation, writing wills, marriage, divorce, and usury. It has several breaks, allowing the reader to absorb its component parts, especially v. 255, the Verse of the Throne, perhaps the most famous and frequently invoked verse in the entire Quran.
In the Name of God, the All Merciful, Ever Merciful
SECTION 1
1Alif. Lam. Mim.°
2This is the Book,
free of doubt—
a guide for those
mindful of the Divine;
3those who
believe in the unseen
are steadfast in prayer
and give in charity
from what We have given them;
4those who believe
in what was revealed to you,°
and revealed before you,
those assured
of the hereafter;
5they are the ones
guided by their Lord
and they are the ones
who will flourish.
6As for those
who don’t believe,
it is the same
whether you warn them or not—
they won’t believe.
7God has set a seal
over their hearts
and their hearing,
and over their sight is a veil—
and they shall face
great torment.
8Some of the people say,
“We believe in God and
in the last day”—but they do not°—
9they would deceive God
and those who believe
but they deceive only themselves
though they don’t perceive it;
10their hearts are filled with disease
that God increases, and they
shall face painful torment
for their lying ways.
11When told, “Don’t sow corruption
through the earth,” they reply,
“We are just reformers.”
12Wrong—they do spread corruption,
though they don’t perceive it.
13When told, “Believe,
like the others do,” they retort,
“What, shall we believe,
like the fools?”
Wrong—they are the fools,
though they don’t know it.
14When they meet believers
they say, “We believe,” but
when alone with their demons,°
they say, “Really, we’re with you—
we were merely mocking them.”
15It is God Who mocks them,
and prolongs their transgression,
leaving them to wander blindly;
16it is they who have exchanged
guidance for error,
but their trading is profitless,
for they are not guided.
17They’re like people who kindle a fire—
as it lights up their surroundings,
God banishes their light, leaving them
in darkness, unseeing—
18deaf, dumb, blind—
they shall never return [to the path]
19or, like people hunched beneath
a rainstorm bursting from the sky,
with darkness, thunder, lightning—
at the thunderclaps, they cover
their ears with their hands,
in dread of death—
God besieges the unbelievers
from all sides;
20the lightning all but blinds their sight;
whenever it flashes around them,
they walk on,
but when darkness falls upon them,
they stand, transfixed.
Had God willed,
He could have seized
their hearing
and their sight.
He has Power over all things.
SECTION 2
21Humankind, worship your Lord
Who created you and those before you,
that you might be mindful of God,
22Who made the earth
a couch for you,°
and the sky a canopy,
Who sent down rain from the sky,
and brought out from the earth
fruits to sustain you—
so don’t set up rivals with God,
when you know [the truth].
23And if you doubt
what We have revealed
to Our servant, then produce
a sura like this; and call
whatever witnesses you have
besides God,
if you are being truthful;
24but if you are unable—and
you will never be able—to do this,
then fear the fire, to be fueled
by humans and stones, prepared
for the unbelievers.
25And give joyous news
to those who believe
and do good deeds,
that they shall have gardens
with flowing rivers beneath;
whenever they are fed with its fruits,
they will say, “This
is what we were fed before,”
for they were given the same;
and there they shall have
pure spouses,
and live there forever.
26God does not recoil
from coining similes
using a lowly mosquito
or higher creatures.
Those who believe
know it is the truth from their Lord.
Those who disbelieve say,
“What does God mean
by this simile?”
We lead many astray by it
and many We guide by it
but We lead astray by it
only the stoutly disobedient.
27Those who break God’s covenant
after it was ratified,
and sever the bonds ordained by God
and spread corruption on the earth—
they will be the ones in loss.
28How can you deny God,
when you were dead
and He gave you life?
Then He will bring you death,
and life again, and to Him
you shall be brought back.
29It is He who created for you
all that is on the earth;
then, turning to the heavens
He fashioned them
as seven heavens°
for He Knows all things.
SECTION 3
30When your Lord said to the angels,
“I will place a regent on the earth,”°
they said, “Will you place there
one who will sow corruption
and shed blood
while we glorify You with praise
and sanctify you?” He responded,
“I know what you
do not know.”
31And He taught Adam
the names of all things,°
and He brought these things
before the angels, saying,
“Inform Me of their names
if you are right.”°
32They replied, “Glory be to You;
we have no knowledge beyond
what You taught us. You
are the Knowing, the Wise.”
33He said to Adam,
“Inform the angels
of the names of things.”
When Adam had done so,
God said, “Did I not tell you
that I know what is unseen
in the heavens and the earth,
that I know what you reveal
and what you conceal?”
34And when We said to the angels,
“Bow down before Adam,”
they bowed down—all
but Iblis;° he refused, proud—
he became a disbeliever.
35We said, “Adam,
you and your wife may live
in the garden, and eat from it
wherever you will;
but do not approach this tree
or you will both do wrong.”
36Then Satan caused them
to fall from the garden,
and dislodged them
from their state in it. And We said,
“Go down, all of you,
as enemies of one another;
on earth you shall have a place to live
and livelihood for a while.”°
37Yet Adam was taught words
[to beg repentance from his Lord],
Who turned to him, relenting—
He is the Ever Relenting,
Ever Merciful.
38We said, “Go down from here,
all of you. But when My guidance
comes, as it will, those who
follow it shall have no fear,
nor shall they grieve.
39“But those who disbelieve
and deny Our signs
shall be inmates of the fire,
abiding there forever.”
SECTION 4
40Children of Israel, remember
the blessing I bestowed upon you,
and fulfill your covenant to Me
as I fulfill My covenant to you
and fear Me, alone,
41and believe in what
I have revealed,
confirming the scripture
already with you;°
don’t be the first to deny it,
nor sell My signs for a paltry price
and be mindful of Me, alone;
42and don’t confound truth
with falsehood, nor conceal
the truth, when you know it.
43Be steadfast in prayer,
practice charity,
and bow down
with those who bow in worship.
44Do you command people
to righteousness—and
forget it yourselves—
while reciting the Book?
Will you not use reason?
45Seek God’s help, through
patience and prayer—though
this is hard, except for
those who are humble,
46those assured that