Surah The Forgiver [Ghafir] in English

Ha Mim.

This Book is revealed by God, the Almighty, the All Knowing.

The Forgiver of sin and the Accepter of repentance, who is severe in punishment and Infinite in His Bounty. There is no God but Him. All shall return to Him.

Only those who deny the truth dispute God's signs. Do not let their activity in the land deceive you.

The people of Noah and later factions also rejected the truth and every community plotted against the messenger sent to them, aiming to lay hands on him, and they contended [against his message] with fallacious arguments, so that they might defeat the truth, therefore I seized them. How terrible was My punishment.

Thus has the word of your Lord come true against the deniers; they shall be the inmates of the Fire.

Those who bear the Throne, and those who are around it, glorify their Lord with His praise, and believe in Him. They ask forgiveness for those who believe, saying, \"Our Lord, You embrace all things in mercy and knowledge. Forgive those who turn to You and follow Your path. Save them from the punishment of Hell

and admit them, Lord, to the Eternal Garden You have promised to them, together with their righteous ancestors, spouses, and offspring: You alone are the Almighty; the All Wise.

Protect them from all evil deeds: those You protect from [the punishment for] evil deeds will receive Your mercy -- that is the supreme success.\"

Those who deny the truth will be told, \"God's abhorrence of you is greater than your hatred of yourselves. You were called to the faith but you denied it.\"

They will say, \"Our Lord! Twice You have made us die, and twice You have given us life! Now we have confessed our sins: is there any way out [of this]?\"

[They will be told], \"This is because when God alone was invoked you denied the truth, yet when others were associated with Him you believed in them.\" Judgement rests with God, the Most High, the Most Great.

It is He who shows you His signs, and sends down provision for you from heaven; but none pays heed except the repentant.

Therefore call upon God, making faith pure for Him, averse as the deniers of the truth may be to it:

Exalted and throned on high, He lets the Spirit descend at His behest upon whichever of His servants He will, so that he may warn of the Day of Meeting,

the Day when they shall rise up [from their graves] and nothing about them will be hidden from God. \"To whom shall the kingdom belong that Day?\" It shall belong to God, the One, the All Powerful.

That Day every soul shall be requited for what it has earned. On that Day none shall be wronged. And God is swift in reckoning.

[O Prophet] forewarn them of the approaching Day, when hearts will leap up to the throats and choke them; when the wrongdoers will have no friend, nor any intercessor who will be listened to,

[for] He is aware of the [most] stealthy glance, and of all that the hearts conceal.

God will judge with [justice and] truth: but those whom they invoke besides Him, have no power to judge at all. Surely, God is all hearing, all seeing.

Have they not travelled through the land and seen what was the end of those who have gone before them? They were stronger than them and made a more impressive mark upon the land, yet God destroyed them for their sins, they had no one to defend them against Him,

that was because their messengers came to them with clear signs but they rejected them. So God seized them: He is powerful, severe in punishment.

We sent Moses with Our signs and clear authority

to Pharaoh, Haman and Korah. But they said, \"A magician, a liar.\"

When he came to them with the truth from Us, they said, \"Slay the sons of those who believe with him and spare only their daughters\" -- the schemes of those who denied the truth were futile.

Pharaoh said, \"Let me kill Moses, let him call upon his Lord, I fear that he may cause you to change your religion, or that he may cause disorder in the land.\"

Moses replied, \"I seek refuge with my Lord and your Lord from every arrogant person who does not believe in the Day of Reckoning.\"

A believer, a man from among the people of Pharaoh, who had concealed his faith, said, \"Would you slay a man merely because he says, \"My Lord is God.\" He has brought you clear signs from your Lord, and if he is lying, the sin of his will be on his own head; but if he is truthful, a part of that of which he warns you will surely befall you. Certainly, God does not guide one who is a transgressor and a liar.

My people! Yours is the kingdom today, you have dominion in the land; but who will help us against the scourge of God if it befalls us?\" But Pharaoh said, \"I point out to you only that which I consider right; and I guide you to the right path.\"

The believer said, \"My people! I fear for you a fate like that of the people of old:

like the fate of the people of Noah, 'Ad, Thamud, and those who came after them -- God never wills injustice on His creatures.

My people, I fear for you the Day you will cry out to one another,

the Day when you will [wish to] turn your backs and flee, having none to defend you against God: for he whom God lets go astray can never find any guide.

Joseph came to you before with clear signs, but you never ceased to doubt the message he brought you. When he died, you said, 'God will not send another messenger.'\"\" In this way God leaves the transgressors and doubters to go astray --

those who dispute God's revelations without any authority are doing something that is greatly abhorrent to God and to the believers. That is how God seals up the heart of every arrogant oppressor.

Pharaoh said, \"O Haman, build for me a lofty building so that I may gain access

to the heavens, so that I may look upon the God of Moses: I am convinced that he is a liar!\" That is how Pharaoh's evil actions were made to look fair in the eyes of Pharoah, and he was turned away from the path [of truth]. Pharaoh's scheming led to nothing but ruin.

The believer said, \"My people, follow me! I will guide you to the right path.

O my people, the life of this world is only a temporary provision; and the Hereafter is the permanent abode.

Whoever does evil will be requited with evil; but whoever does good, whether male or female, and is a believer, will enter the Garden; where they will be provided for without measure.

My people! How is it that I call you to salvation, while you call me to the Fire?

You call upon me to deny God and to serve other deities about which I have no knowledge, while I call you to the Almighty, the Forgiver.

Surely that to which you call me has no say in this world or in the life to come, that our return is to God alone, and that the transgressors shall be the inmates of the Fire.

Soon you will remember what I say to you! I shall entrust my affair to God, for God is observant of all [His] servants.\"

Thus, God delivered him from the evils which they plotted, and the companions of Pharaoh themselves were encompassed by a dreadful scourge;

they will be brought before the Fire morning and evening. On the Day the Hour comes, [a voice will cry], \"Mete out to Pharaoh's people the harshest punishment!\"

When they dispute with one another in the Fire, the weak will say to those who deemed themselves mighty, \"We were your followers; will you then relieve us of some of the Fire?\"

But those who had been arrogant will say, \"We are all in this together. God has judged between His servants.\"

Those in the Fire will say to its keepers, \"Implore your Lord to relieve our torment for one day,\"

but they will say, \"Did not your messengers come to you with clear signs?\" They will say, \"Yes.\" The keepers will say, \"Then pray [for help] yourselves.\" But the prayer of those who deny the truth is of no avail.

Most surely We help our messengers, and those who believe, in the life of this world and on the Day when all the witnesses will stand up.

The Day when their excuses will be of no avail to the wrongdoers, the curse shall be their lot and they will have the most evil abode.

We gave Moses Our guidance, and made the Children of Israel the inheritors of the Book --

a guide and an admonition to men of understanding.

So be patient, for what God has promised is sure to come. Ask forgiveness for your sins; praise your Lord morning and evening.

As for those who, with no authority to do so, dispute God's messages, there is nothing in their hearts but a feeling of greatness which they will never attain. Seek refuge in God, for He is the All Hearing, the All Seeing.

Certainly, the creation of the heavens and the earth is greater than the creation of mankind; but most people do not know this.

The blind and the sighted are not equal, just as those who believe and do good works and those who do evil are not equal: how seldom you reflect!

The Final Hour is sure to come, without doubt, but most people do not believe.

Your Lord has said, \"Call on Me, and I will answer your prayers.\" But those who are too arrogant to worship Me will certainly enter Hell, in disgrace.

It is God who has given you the night in which to rest and the day in which to see. God is truly bountiful to people, but most people do not give thanks.

Such is God, your Lord, the Creator of all things. There is no god but He. How then are you being turned away [from Him]?

Thus, indeed, those who deny the signs of God turn away from Him.

It is God who has given you the earth for a resting place and the heavens for a canopy. He shaped you, formed you well, and provided you with good things. Such is God, your Lord, so glory be to Him, the Lord of the Universe.

He is the Living One. There is no deity save Him. So pray to Him, making religion pure for Him [only]. Praise be to God, the Lord of the Universe!

Say, \"I have been forbidden to invoke those whom you invoke besides God -- seeing that clear signs have come to me from my Lord; and I have been commanded to submit to the Lord of the Universe.\"

It is He who created you from dust, then from a drop of fluid, then from a tiny, clinging form, then He brought you forth as infants, then He allowed you to reach maturity, then He let you grow old, though some of you die sooner, and reach your appointed term so that you may reflect.

It is He who gives life and death, and when He ordains a thing, He says only, \"Be!\" and it is.

Do you not see how those who dispute God's signs, are turned away from the right path --

those who reject the Book and that with which We sent Our messengers shall soon know --

when, with iron collars and chains around their necks, they are dragged

into the boiling water and then are thrown into the Fire,

and then they will be asked, \"Where are those whom you associated [with God]?\"

They will say, \"They have been lost to us; nay, we did not invoke anything before [that had real existence].\" Thus God leaves the deniers of the truth to stray;

that is because you exulted in the land without justification and because you behaved insolently.

Enter the gates of Hell to stay therein forever. The abode of the arrogant is evil.

So be patient [Prophet], for God's promise is true: whether We show you part of what We have promised them in this life, or cause you to die first, it is to Us that they will be recalled.

Before your time We sent other messengers: of them there are some whose story We have related to you, and some whose story We have not related to you. It was not [possible] for any messenger to bring a sign except by the leave of God: but when the command of God was issued, the matter was decided in truth and justice. There and then, those who stood on falsehoods perished.

It is God who provides livestock for you, some for riding and some for your food:

you have other benefits in them too. You can reach any destination you wish on them: they carry you by land, as ships carry you on the sea.

He shows you His signs; which then of the signs of God will you deny?

Have they not travelled in the land to see the fate of those who went before them? They were more numerous and mightier and left greater traces of their power on the earth; yet all that they accomplished was of no avail to them.

When messengers came to them with clear signs, they revelled in whatever knowledge they had, and so they were engulfed by the very punishment they mocked:

but when they saw Our punishment, they said, \"We believe in God, the One God, and we reject the partners we used to associate with Him,\"