Surah Repentance [At-Taubah] in English

[This is] a [declaration of] repudiation by Allah and His Apostle [addressed] to the polytheists with whom you had made a treaty:

Travel [unmolested] in the land for four months, but know that you cannot frustrate Allah, and that Allah shall disgrace the faithless.

[This is] an announcement from Allah and His Apostle to all the people on the day of the greater Hajj: that Allah and His Apostle repudiate the polytheists: If you repent that is better for you; but if you turn your backs [on Allah], know that you cannot frustrate Allah, and inform the faithless of a painful punishment

(barring the polytheists with whom you have made a treaty, and who did not violate any [of its terms] with you, nor backed anyone against you. So fulfill the treaty with them until [the end of] its term. Indeed Allah loves the Godwary).

Then, when the sacred months have passed, kill the polytheists wherever you find them, capture them and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every ambush. But if they repent, and maintain the prayer and give the zakat, then let them alone. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

If any of the polytheists seeks asylum from you, grant him asylum until he hears the Word of Allah. Then convey him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know.

How shall the polytheists have any [valid] treaty with Allah and His Apostle?! (Barring those with whom you made a treaty at the Holy Mosque; so long as they are steadfast with you, be steadfast with them. Indeed Allah loves the Godwary.)

How? For if, they get the better of you, they will observe toward you neither kinship nor covenant. They please you with their mouths while their hearts spurn you; and most of them are transgressors.

They have sold the signs of Allah for a paltry gain, and have barred [the people] from His way. Evil indeed is what they have been doing.

They observe toward a believer neither kinship nor covenant, and it is they who are the transgressors.

Yet if they repent and maintain the prayer and give the zakat, then they are your brethren in faith. We elaborate the signs for a people who have knowledge.

But if they break their pledges after their having made a treaty and revile your religion, then fight the leaders of unfaith—indeed, they have no [commitment to] pledges,—maybe they will desist.

Will you not make war on a people who broke their pledges and resolved to expel the Apostle, and opened [hostilities] against you initially? Do you fear them? But Allah is worthier of being feared by you, should you be faithful.

Make war on them so that Allah may punish them by your hands and humiliate them, and help you against them, and heal the hearts of a faithful folk,

and remove rage from their hearts, and Allah turns clemently to whomever He wishes, and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise

Do you suppose that you will be let off while Allah has not yet ascertained those of you who wage jihad and those who do not take anyone as [their] confidant besides Allah and His Apostle and the faithful? Allah is well aware of what you do.

The polytheists may not maintain Allah’s mosques while they are witness to their own unfaith. Their works have failed, and they shall remain in the Fire [forever].

Only those shall maintain Allah’s mosques who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and maintain the prayer, and give the zakat, and fear no one except Allah. They, hopefully, will be among the guided.

Do you regard the providing of water to Hajj pilgrims and the maintenance of the Holy Mosque as similar [in worth] to someone who has faith in Allah and [believes in] the Last Day and wages jihad in the way of Allah? They are not equal with Allah, and Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot.

Those who have believed and migrated, and waged jihad in the way of Allah with their possessions and persons have a greater rank near Allah, and it is they who are the triumphant.

Their Lord gives them the good news of His mercy and [His] pleasure, and for them there will be gardens with lasting bliss,

to remain in them forever. With Allah indeed is a great reward.

O you who have faith! Do not befriend your fathers and brothers if they prefer faithlessness to faith. Those of you who befriend them—it is they who are the wrongdoers.

Say, ‘If your fathers and your sons, your brethren, your spouses, and your kinsfolk, the possessions that you have acquired, the business you fear may suffer, and the dwellings you are fond of, are dearer to you than Allah and His Apostle and to waging jihad in His way, then wait until Allah issues His edict, and Allah does not guide the transgressing lot.

Allah has certainly helped you in many situations, and on the day of Hunayn, when your great number impressed you, but it did not avail you in any way, and the earth became narrow for you in spite of its expanse, whereupon you turned your backs [to flee].

Then Allah sent down His composure upon His Apostle and upon the faithful, and He sent down hosts you did not see, and He punished the faithless, and that is the requital of the faithless.

Then Allah shall turn clemently after that to whomever He wishes. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

O you who have faith! The polytheists are indeed unclean: so let them not approach the Holy Mosque after this year. Should you fear poverty, Allah will enrich you out of His grace, if He wishes. Indeed Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.

Fight those who do not have faith in Allah nor [believe] in the Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and His Apostle have forbidden, nor practise the true religion, from among those who were given the Book, until they pay the tribute out of hand, degraded.

The Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of Allah,’ and the Christians say, ‘Christ is the son of Allah.’ That is an opinion that they mouth, imitating the opinions of the faithless of former times. May Allah assail them, where do they stray?!

They have taken their scribes and their monks as lords besides Allah, and also Christ, Mary’s son; though they were commanded to worship only the One God, there is no god except Him; He is far too immaculate to have any partners that they ascribe [to Him]!

They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah is intent on perfecting His light though the faithless should be averse.

It is He who has sent His Apostle with the guidance and the religion of truth that He may make it prevail over all religions, though the polytheists should be averse.

O you who have faith! Indeed many of the scribes and monks wrongfully eat up the people’s wealth, and bar [them] from the way of Allah. Those who treasure up gold and silver, and do not spend it in the way of Allah, inform them of a painful punishment

on the day when these shall be heated in hellfire and therewith branded on their foreheads, their sides, and their backs [and told]: ‘This is what you treasured up for yourselves! So taste what you have treasured!’

Indeed the number of months with Allah is twelve months in Allah’s Book, the day when He created the heavens and the earth. Of these, four are sacred. That is the upright religion. So do not wrong yourselves during them. Fight all the polytheists, just as they fight you all, and know that Allah is with the Godwary.

Indeed nasee is an increase in unfaith, whereby the faithless are led [further] astray. They allow it in one year and forbid it another year, so as to fit in with the number, which Allah has made inviolable, thus permitting what Allah has forbidden. Their evil deeds appear to them as decorous, and Allah does not guide the faithless lot.

O you who have faith! What is the matter with you that when you are told: ‘Go forth in the way of Allah,’ you sink heavily to the ground? Are you pleased with the life of this world instead of the Hereafter? But the wares of the life of this world compared with the Hereafter are but insignificant.

If you do not go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment, and replace you with another people, and you will not hurt Him in the least, and Allah has power over all things.

If you do not help him, then Allah certainly helped him when the faithless expelled him, as one of two [refugees], when the two of them were in the cave, he said to his companion, ‘Do not grieve; Allah is indeed with us.’ Then Allah sent down His composure upon him, and strengthened him with hosts you did not see, and He made the word of the faithless the lowest; and the word of Allah is the highest; and Allah is all-mighty, all-wise.

Go forth, whether [armed] lightly or heavily, and wage jihad with your possessions and persons in the way of Allah. That is better for you, should you know.

Were it an accessible gain or a short journey, they would have surely followed you; but the distance seemed too far to them. Yet they will swear by Allah: ‘If we could, we would have surely gone forth with you.’ They [merely] destroy themselves. Allah knows that they are indeed liars.

May Allah excuse you! Why did you grant them leave [to stay behind] before those who told the truth were evident to you and you had ascertained the liars?

Those who believe in Allah and the Last Day do not ask you for leave [exempting them] from waging jihad with their possessions and their persons, and Allah knows best the Godwary.

Only those seek a leave [of exemption] from you who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, and whose hearts are in doubt, so they waver in their doubt.

Had they desired to go forth, they would have surely made some preparations for it; but Allah was averse to arouse them, so He held them back, and it was said [to them], ‘Be seated with those who sit back.’

Had they gone forth with you, they would have only added to your troubles, and they would have surely spread rumours in your midst, seeking to cause sedition among you. They have some spies among you, and Allah knows best the wrongdoers.

They certainly sought to cause sedition earlier, and upset the matters for you, until the truth came and Allah’s command prevailed, much as they were averse.

Among them there are some who say, ‘Give me leave, and do not put me to temptation.’ Look! They have already fallen into temptation and indeed hell besieges the faithless.

If some good should befall you, it upsets them; but if an adversity befalls you, they say, ‘We had already taken our precautions in advance,’ and they go away boasting.

Say, ‘Nothing will befall us except what Allah has ordained for us. He is our master, and in Allah let all the faithful put their trust.’

Say, ‘Do you not await one of the two excellent things to happen to us? But we await that Allah shall visit on you a punishment, from Him, or by our hands. So wait! We too are waiting along with you.’

Say, ‘Spend willingly or unwillingly, it shall never be accepted from you; for you are indeed a transgressing lot.’

Nothing stops their charities from being accepted except that they have no faith in Allah and His Apostle and do not perform the prayer but lazily, and do not spend but reluctantly.

So let not their wealth and children impress you: Allah only desires to punish them with these in the life of this world, and that their souls may depart while they are faithless.

They swear by Allah that they belong to you, but they do not belong to you. Rather, they are a frightened lot.

If they could find a refuge, or a hideout, or a hole [to creep into], they would turn to it in frantic haste.

There are some of them who blame you regarding [the distribution of] the charities: if they are given from them, they are pleased, but if they are not given from them, behold, they are displeased.

[It would have been better] if they had been pleased with what Allah and His Apostle gave them, and had said, ‘Allah is sufficient for us; Allah and His Apostle will give to us out of His grace. Indeed to Allah do we eagerly turn.’

The charities are only for the poor and the needy, and those employed to collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and for [the freedom of] the slaves and the debtors, and in the way of Allah, and for the traveller. [This is] an ordinance from Allah, and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.

Among them are those who torment the Prophet, and say, ‘He is an ear.’ Say, ‘An ear that is good for you. He has faith in Allah and trusts the faithful, and is a mercy for those of you who have faith.’ As for those who torment the Apostle of Allah, there is a painful punishment for them.

They swear to you by Allah, to please you; but Allah and His Apostle are worthier that they should please Him, should they be faithful.

Do they not know that whoever opposes Allah and His Apostle, there awaits him the Fire of hell, to remain in it [forever]? That is the great disgrace.

The hypocrites are apprehensive lest a surah should be sent down against them, informing them about what is in their hearts. Say, ‘Go on deriding. Allah will indeed bring out what you are apprehensive of.’

If you question them [regarding their conduct], they will surely say, ‘We were just gossiping and amusing ourselves.’ Say, ‘Were you deriding Allah, His signs, and His apostles?

Do not make excuses. You have disbelieved after your faith.’ If We forgive a group among you, We will punish another group, for they have been guilty.

The hypocrites, men and women, are all alike: they bid what is wrong and forbid what is right; and are tight-fisted. They have forgotten Allah, so He has forgotten them. The hypocrites are indeed the transgressors.

Allah has promised the hypocrites, men and women, and the faithless, the Fire of hell, to remain in it [forever]. That suffices them. Allah has cursed them, and there is a lasting punishment for them.

[Hypocrites! Your case is] similar to those who were before you, who were more powerful than you and more abounding in wealth and children: they enjoyed their share [of worldly existence]; you too enjoy your share, just like those who were before you enjoyed their share, and you have gossiped [impiously] as they gossiped. They are the ones whose works have failed in this world and the Hereafter; and it is they who are the losers.

Has there not come to them the account of those who were before them—the people of Noah, ‘Ad, and Tham£d, and the people of Abraham, the inhabitants of Midian, and the towns that were overturned? Their apostles brought them manifest proofs. So it was not Allah who wronged them, but it was they who used to wrong themselves.

But the faithful, men and women, are comrades of one another: they bid what is right and forbid what is wrong and maintain the prayer, give the zakat, and obey Allah and His Apostle. It is they to whom Allah will soon grant His mercy. Indeed Allah is all-mighty, all-wise.

Allah has promised the faithful, men and women, gardens with streams running in them, to remain in them [forever], and good dwellings in the Gardens of Eden. Yet Allah’s pleasure is greater [than all these]; that is the great success.

O Prophet! Wage jihad against the faithless and the hypocrites, and be severe with them. Their refuge shall be hell, and it is an evil destination.

They swear by Allah that they did not say it. But they certainly did utter the word of unfaith and renounced faith after their Islam. They contemplated what they could not achieve, and they were vindictive only because Allah and His Apostle had enriched them out of His grace. Yet if they repent, it will be better for them; but if they turn away, Allah shall punish them with a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter, and they shall not find on the earth any guardian or helper.

Among them are those who made a pledge with Allah: ‘If He gives us out of His grace, we will surely give the zakat and we will surely be among the righteous.’

But when He gave them out of His grace, they begrudged it and turned away, being disregardful.

So He caused hypocrisy to ensue in their hearts until the day they will encounter Him, because of their going back on what they had promised Allah and because of the lies they used to tell.

Do they not know that Allah knows their secret [thoughts] and [hears] their secret talks, and that Allah is knower of all that is Unseen?

Those who blame the voluntary donors from among the faithful concerning the charities—and as for those who do not find [anything] except [what] their means [permit], they ridicule them—Allah shall put them to ridicule, and there is a painful punishment for them.

Whether you plead forgiveness for them or do not plead forgiveness for them, even if you plead forgiveness for them seventy times, Allah shall never forgive them because they defied Allah and His Apostle; and Allah does not guide the transgressing lot.

Those who were left behind boasted for sitting back against [the command of] the Apostle of Allah, and were reluctant to wage jihad with their possessions and persons in the way of Allah, and they said, ‘Do not go forth in this heat.’ Say, The fire of hell is severer in heat, should they understand.

So let them laugh a little; much will they weep as a requital for what they used to earn.

If Allah brings you back [from the battlefront] to a group of them and they seek your permission to go forth, say, ‘You shall never go forth with me, and you shall not fight with me against any enemy. You were indeed pleased to sit back the first time, so sit back with those who stay behind.’

And never pray over any of them when he dies, nor stand at his graveside. They indeed defied Allah and His Apostle and died as transgressors.

Let not their possessions or their children impress you. Allah only desires to punish them with these in this world, and that their souls may depart while they are faithless.

When a surah is sent down [declaring]: ‘Have faith in Allah, and wage jihad along with His Apostle, the affluent among them ask you for leave, and say, ‘Let us remain with those who sit back.’

They are pleased to be with those who stay back, and their hearts have been sealed. So they do not understand.

But the Apostle and the faithful who are with him wage jihad with their possessions and persons, and to such belong all the blessings, and it is they who are the felicitous.

Allah has prepared for them gardens with streams running in them, to remain in them [forever]. That is the great success.

Some of the Bedouins who sought to be excused came, so that they may be granted leave [to stay back]; while those who lied to Allah and His Apostle sat back. Soon there shall visit the faithless among them a painful punishment.

There is no blame on the weak, nor on the sick, nor on those who do not find anything to spend, so long as they are sincere to Allah and His Apostle. There is no [cause for] blaming the virtuous, and Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

Nor [is there any blame] on those to whom, when they came to you to provide them with a mount, you said, ‘I do not find any mount for you,’ and they turned back, their eyes flowing with tears, grieved because they did not find any means to spend.

The blame lies only on those who ask leave of you [to stay behind] though they are well-off. They are pleased to be with those who stay back; Allah has set a seal on their hearts, so they do not know [the outcome of their conduct].

They will offer you excuses when you return to them. Say, ‘Do not make excuses; we will never believe you. Allah has informed us of your state of affairs. Allah and His Apostle will observe your conduct, then you will be returned to the Knower of the sensible and the Unseen, and He will inform you concerning what you used to do.’

They will swear to you by Allah when you return to them, that you may leave them alone. So leave them alone. They are indeed filth, and their refuge shall be hell, a requital for what they used to earn.

They swear to you that you may be reconciled to them. But even if you are reconciled to them, Allah shall not be reconciled to the transgressing lot.

The Bedouins are more obdurate in unfaith and hypocrisy, and more apt to be ignorant of the precepts that Allah has sent down to His Apostle, and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.

Among the Bedouins are those who regard what they spend as a loss, and they watch for a reversal of your fortunes. Theirs shall be an adverse turn of fortune, and Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.

Yet among the Bedouins are [also] those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and regard what they spend as [a means of attaining] nearness to Allah and the blessings of the Apostle. Now, it shall indeed bring them nearness, and Allah will admit them into His mercy. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

The early vanguard of the Emigrants and the Helpers and those who followed them in virtue—Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him, and He has prepared for them gardens with streams running in them, to remain in them forever. That is the great success.

There are hypocrites among the Bedouins around you and among the townspeople of Madinah, steeped in hypocrisy. You do not know them; We know them, and We will punish them twice, then they shall be consigned to a great punishment.

[There are] others who have confessed to their sins, having mixed up righteous conduct with other that was evil. Maybe Allah will accept their repentance. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.

Take charity from their possessions to cleanse them and purify them thereby, and bless them. Indeed your blessing is a comfort to them, and Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.

Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts the repentance of His servants and receives the charities, and that it is Allah who is the All-clement, the All-merciful?

And say, ‘Go on working: Allah will see your conduct, and His Apostle and the faithful [as well], and you will be returned to the Knower of the sensible and the Unseen, and He will inform you concerning what you used to do.

[There are] others waiting Allah’s edict: either He shall punish them, or turn to them clemently, and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.

As for those who took to a mosque for sabotage and for defiance, and to cause division among the faithful, and for the purpose of ambush [used] by those who have fought Allah and His Apostle before—they will surely swear, ‘We desired nothing but good,’ and Allah bears witness that they are indeed liars.

Do not stand in it ever! A mosque founded on Godwariness from the [very] first day is worthier that you stand in it [for prayer]. Therein are men who love to keep pure, and Allah loves those who keep pure.

Is he who founds his building on Godwariness and [the pursuit of Allah’s] pleasure better-off or he who founds his building on the brink of a collapsing bank which collapses with him into the fire of hell? Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot.

The building they have built will never cease to be [a source of] disquiet in their hearts until their hearts are cut into pieces, and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.

Indeed Allah has bought from the faithful their souls and their possessions for paradise to be theirs: they fight in the way of Allah, kill, and are killed. A promise binding upon Him in the Torah and the Evangel and the Quran. And who is truer to his promise than Allah? So rejoice in the bargain you have made with Him, and that is the great success.

[The faithful are] penitent, devout, celebrators of Allah’s praise, wayfarers, who bow [and] prostrate [in prayer], bid what is right and forbid what is wrong, and keep Allah’s bounds—and give good news to the faithful.

The Prophet and the faithful may not plead for the forgiveness of the polytheists, even if they should be [their] relatives, after it has become clear to them that they will be the inmates of hell.

Abraham’s pleading forgiveness for his father was only to fulfill a promise he had made him. So when it became manifest to him that he was an enemy of God, he repudiated him. Indeed Abraham was most plaintive and forbearing.

Allah does not lead any people astray after He has guided them until He has made clear to them what they should beware of. Indeed Allah has knowledge of all things.

Indeed to Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He gives life and brings death. And besides Allah you do not have any guardian or helper.

Certainly Allah turned clemently to the Prophet and the Emigrants and the Helpers, who followed him in the hour of difficulty, after the hearts of a part of them were about to swerve. Then He turned clemently to them—indeed, He is most kind and merciful to them

—and to the three who were left behind. When the earth became narrow for them with [all] its expanse, and their own souls weighed heavily on them, and they knew that there was no refuge from Allah except in Him, then He turned clemently toward them so that they might be penitent. Indeed Allah is the All-clement, the All-merciful.

O you who have faith! Be wary of Allah, and be with the Truthful.

It is not fitting for the people of Madinah and the Bedouins around them to hang back behind the Apostle of Allah and prefer their own lives to his life. That is because they neither experience any thirst, nor fatigue, nor hunger, in the way of Allah, nor do they tread any ground enraging the faithless, nor do they gain any ground against an enemy but a righteous deed is written for them on its account. Indeed Allah does not waste the reward of the virtuous.

And neither do they incur any expense, big or small, nor do they cross any valley, but it is written to their account, so that Allah may reward them by the best of what they used to do.

Yet it is not for the faithful to go forth en masse. But why should not there a group from each of their sections go forth to become learned in religion, and to warn their people when they return to them, so that they may beware?

O you who have faith! Fight the faithless who are in your vicinity, and let them find severity in you, and know that Allah is with the Godwary.

Whenever a surah is sent down, there are some of them who say, ‘Which of you did it increase in faith?’ As for those who have faith, it increases them in faith, and they rejoice.

But as for those in whose heart is a sickness, it only adds defilement to their defilement, and they die while they are faithless.

Do they not see that they are tried once or twice every year? Yet they neither repent, nor do they take admonition.

Whenever a surah is sent down they look at one another: ‘Is anybody observing you?’ Then they slip away. Allah has turned aside their hearts, for they are a people who do not understand.

There has certainly come to you an apostle from among yourselves. Grievous to him is your distress; he has deep concern for you, and is most kind and merciful to the faithful.