Surah The Pilgrimage [Al-Hajj] in English

O YOU PEOPLE, fear your Lord. The great upheaval of the Hour will indeed be terrible.

The day you see it every suckling female will forget her suckling, and every pregnant female will discharge her burden. You will see men drunk, yet it will not be intoxication. The torment of God will be severe.

And yet there are men who contend about God without understanding, and follow every wayward devil

Who, it is inscribed, will beguile whoever follows him, and lead him to the torment of Hell.

If you have any doubt, O men, about being raised to life again, (remember) that We created you from dust, then a drop of semen, then an embryo, then a chewed up lump of flesh shaped and shapeless, that We may reveal (the various steps) to you. We keep what We please in the womb for a certain time, then you come out as a child, then reach the prime of age. Some of you die, some reach the age of dotage when they forget what they knew, having known it once. You see the earth all withered, then We send down rain upon it, and it bestirs itself, swells, and brings forth every kind of beauteous verdure.

That is so for God is the undeniable Reality. It is He who brings the dead to life, for He has power over everything.

The Hour will come without a doubt, and God will raise those who are dead.

Yet there are some who contend about God without any knowledge or guidance or enlightening Book,

Turning their backs that they may lead away from the path of God. For such there is disgrace in the world, and on the Day of Judgement We shall make them taste the torment of burning.

That is on account of what you had done in the past; yet God is not unjust to His creatures.

There are some men who worship God only from the margin. If there is some profit they are content; but if calamity befalls them they turn about, thus losing both this world and the next. This is indeed a palpable loss.

Leaving God they pray to those who cannot harm or profit them. That is the limit of going astray.

They pray to him whose bane is more imminent than his boon: How bad the protector and how bad the associate!

God will admit those who believe and do the right to gardens full of rippling streams. Verily God does as He pleases.

He who thinks that God will not help him in this world and the next should stretch a rope to the sky then cut it off and see if his mind is relieved (of doubts) by this stratagem.

That is why We have sent down these clear revelations, for God gives guidance whomsoever He please.

God will judge between those who believe and the Jews, the Sabians, Christians and the Magians and the idolaters, on the Day of Judgement. Verily God is witness to everything.

Do you see how all things in heavens and the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, trees and beasts, and men in abundance, pay homage to God? Yet there are many who deserve the punishment. And whosoever God disgraces will have none to raise him up in honour. God does verily as He will.

These two (believers and unbelievers) are disputants, who contend about their Lord. But they who disbelieve will be fitted out with garments of flames. Boiling water will be poured down over their heads

Which will dissolve everything within their bellies, and their skins.

There are iron maces for them.

As often as they try to escape from its anguish they would be put back into (the fire), and taste the torment of burning.

God will surely admit those who believe and do the right to gardens with rivers running by, where they will be decked in bracelets of gold and of pearls; and of silk will be their garments.

They will be guided with gentle words, and guided to the commended path.

As for those who disbelieve, and obstruct the way of God and the holy Mosque which We have set down for all men, the native and the visitor alike. Whoever puts obstructions in this mischievously will taste of painful punishment.

When We chose the site of the House for Abraham (We said:) \"Associate no one with Me, and clean My House for those who will circumambulate it, stand (in reverence), and bow in homage.

Announce the Pilgrimage to the people. They will come to you on foot and riding along distant roads on lean and slender beasts,

In order to reach the place of advantage for them, and to pronounce the name of God on appointed days over cattle He has given them for food; then eat of the meat and feed the needy and the poor.

Let them then attend to their persons and complete the rites of pilgrimage, fulfil their vows and circuit round the ancient House.

Apart from this, whoever respects the sacred ordinances of God, will find a better reward for him with his Lord. You are allowed to eat all cattle except those already mentioned to you. Avoid the repugnance of idols, and false and frivolous talk.

Turn uprightly to God without ascribing compeers to Him; for he who associates any one with God is like a thing that falls from the sky and is either snatched away by birds or carried far away by the wind.

All this, and honouring the offerings to God, comes from purity of heart.

, There are advantages for you in these (cattle) up to a time, then their place is the ancient House for sacrifice.

For every community We have ordained certain rites that they may commemorate the name of God by reading it over the cattle We have given them for sacrifice. Your God is one God, so be obedient to Him. Give good tidings to those who bow in obedience to God,

Whose hearts are filled with awe when the name of God is mentioned before them, who endure with fortitude what befalls them, and fulfil their moral obligations, and expend of what We have given them.

We have made the camels signs of God for you. There is good for you in this. So pronounce the name of God over them as they stand with their forefeet in a line. When they have fallen (slaughtered) on their sides, eat of (their meat) and feed those who are content with little, and those who supplicate. That is why We have brought them under your subjugation so that you may be grateful.

It is not their meat or blood that reaches God: It is the fealty of your heart that reaches him. That is why He has subjugated them to you that you may glorify God for having shown you the way. So give glad tidings to those who are doers of good.

God will certainly defend the believers. Surely God does not like the traitors who deny the truth.

Permission is granted those (to take up arms) who fight because they were oppressed. God is certainly able to give help to those

Who were driven away from their homes for no other reason than they said: \"Our Lord is God.\" And if God had not restrained some men through some others, monastries, churches, synagogues and mosques, where the name of God is honoured most, would have been razed. God will surely help those who help Him, -- verily God is all-powerful and all-mighty, --

Those who would be firm in devotion, give zakat, and enjoin what is good and forbid what is wrong, if We gave them authority in the land. But the resultance of things rests with God.

If they accuse you of falsehood, (remember that) the people of Noah, 'Ad and Thamud had accused (their apostles) before,

And the people of Abraham and Lot,

And the people of Midian too. Moses was also accused of lies. So I allowed the infidels respite and then seized them. How was My reprobation then!

How many a habitation given to wickedness have We destroyed, whose roofs tumbled down, which fell into ruins. How many a well and fortress reinforced lie abandoned!

Have they not travelled in the land that they could have the heart to understand, and ears to hear? It is not the eyes alone that do not see, oblivious are the hearts within their breasts.

That is how they ask you to hasten the punishment; but God does not go back on His promise. Verily a day with your Lord is equal by your reckoning to a thousand years.

To how many habitations did We give respite, though given to wickedness, and then seized them. To Me they had to come back in the end.

Tell them: \"O men, it's my duty to warn you clearly.\"

For those who believe and do the right is forgiveness and gracious provision.

But those who try to defeat Our signs are people of Hell.

We have sent no messenger or apostle before you with whose recitations Satan did not tamper. Yet God abrogates what Satan interpolates; then He confirms His revelations, for God is all-knowing and all-wise.

This is in order to make the interpolations of Satan a test for those whose hearts are diseased and hardened: Surely the sinners have gone far in dissent.

At the same time those who have been given knowledge may know that this is the truth from your Lord, and come to believe in it, and their hearts become submissive to Him. Verily God guides those who believe, to the even path.

The infidels will remain in doubt about it till the Hour overtakes them unawares, or the punishment of the barren day destructive should come upon them.

The order will be God's on that Day; He will judge between them. Then those who had come to believe and done the right will be in gardens of delight.

But those who did not believe and called Our revelations lies, will be given disgraceful punishment.

Those who left their homes in the way of God, and then were killed or died, will surely be given a better provision by God, for God is surely the best of providers.

God will surely lead them to a place with which they will be gratified. Verily God is all-knowing and forbearing.

Whosoever retaliates to the extent of injury suffered by him, and is wronged again, will certainly be helped by God. Verily God is forgiving and kind.

That is so for God turns night into day and day into night, for God is all-hearing and all-seeing;

That is so for God is the undeniable truth, and what they invoke apart from Him is false; yet God is all-high and supreme.

Do you not see how God sends down water from the sky and in the morning the earth turns green? Truly God is benign and well-informed.

Whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth belongs to Him. Surely God is all-sufficing, worthy of praise.

Do you not see God has harnessed all that is in the earth, to your service? And the boats ply in the ocean by His command. He holds the sky in position lest it should fall upon the earth save by His dispensation. Verily God is compassionate and kind to men.

It is He who gives you life, then makes you die; then He will bring you back to life again. Man is surely most ungrateful.

We have determined for each community a way of worship which they follow. So they should not contend with you in this matter; and you should go on calling them to your Lord. You are surely on the right path.

If they argue with you, tell them: \"God knows well what you are doing.

God will judge between you on the Day of Judgement in what you are at variance.\"

Do you not know that God knows whatever is in the heavens and the earth? This is surely in accordance with the law. This is certainly how (the law of) God works inevitably.

Yet they worship in place of God that for which no authority has been sent to them, and of which they have no knowledge. The wicked will have none to help them.

When Our clear messages are read out to them you can see denial on the faces of unbelievers. They can hardly restrain themselves from attacking those who recite Our revelations. Tell them: \"Should I give you news of something worse than this?\" -- Hell, which God has promised the infidels. How evil a destination!

O men, give ear to this parable: Those you worship other than God can never create as much as a fly, even if they get together to do so; and if the fly were to rob them of a thing they would not be able to snatch it away from it. How weak the seeker and how weak the sought!

They do not esteem God with the right estimation. God is surely all-powerful and all-mighty.

God chooses messengers from the angels and human beings. Verily God is all-hearing and all-seeing.

He knows what is before them and what lies behind them, and all things go back to God.

O you who believe, bow in adoration, Worship your Lord and do what is good that you may find success.